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Full-Text Articles in Law

Spruce Run News (Summer 2005), Spruce Run Staff Jul 2005

Spruce Run News (Summer 2005), Spruce Run Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.


Domestic Violence And The Danger Of Joint Custody Presumptions, Judith G. Greenberg Jul 2005

Domestic Violence And The Danger Of Joint Custody Presumptions, Judith G. Greenberg

Northern Illinois University Law Review

This article points out that the current trend towards joint custody as the preference or presumption in divorces can create some unwanted side-effects. Specifically, joint custody is dangerous for victims of spousal abuse because it allows, and sometimes even facilitates, the continuation of patterns of abuse. Although many jurisdictions that apply a joint custody presumption attempt to protect victims of domestic violence, neither of the two usual approaches is successful in protecting the victims and their children. As a result, the author makes two recommendations. First, statutes should never create a presumption in favor of joint custody. Second, courts should …


Telling Stories, Saving Lives: The Battered Mothers' Testimony Project, Women's Narratives, And Court Reform, Leigh Goodmark Mar 2005

Telling Stories, Saving Lives: The Battered Mothers' Testimony Project, Women's Narratives, And Court Reform, Leigh Goodmark

ExpressO

In November 2002, the Wellesley Centers for Women’s Battered Mothers’ Testimony Project released Battered Mothers Speak Out, a report detailing human rights abuses committed against forty battered mothers and their children who had litigated cases in the Massachusetts family court system. Although the report initially generated a great deal of attention, the response from the courts was overwhelmingly negative, and the report prompted no change in the courts. Because the stories of these women resonated with my own experiences representing battered women, I wondered why the report had so little effect on system change. The official response of the courts …


Spruce Run News (Spring 2005), Spruce Run Staff Mar 2005

Spruce Run News (Spring 2005), Spruce Run Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.


Judicial Deference Or Bad Law? Why Massachusetts Courts Will Not Impose Municipal Liability For Failure To Enforce Restraining Orders, Carolyn Grose Jan 2005

Judicial Deference Or Bad Law? Why Massachusetts Courts Will Not Impose Municipal Liability For Failure To Enforce Restraining Orders, Carolyn Grose

Faculty Scholarship

The authors take up the challenge that was thrown down by the Ford v. Town of Grafton court. The first part of this Article examines the somewhat tortured and fascinating history of the Massachusetts Tort Claims Act. It then describes the arguments Catherine Ford made, how the court responded, and why it responded as it did. In Part II, Massachusetts' strong commitment to protecting and assisting victims of domestic violence is examined. A variety of legislative, executive and judicial initiatives that demonstrate commitment are described, but the Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 209A, the restraining order statute, is emphasized. The article …


Differentiating Types Of Domestic Violence: Implications For Child Custody, Nancy Ver Steegh Jan 2005

Differentiating Types Of Domestic Violence: Implications For Child Custody, Nancy Ver Steegh

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines child custody determinations through the lens of a domestic violence typology. The resulting analysis (1) reconciles competing viewpoints and contradictory evidence about domestic violence; (2) matches families with appropriate child custody court procedures and services such as parent education, mediation, supervised visitation and parent coordination; and (3) exposes serious deficiencies in current domestic violence childcustody statutes.


Crawford V. Washington: The End Of Victimless Prosecution?, Andrew King-Ries Jan 2005

Crawford V. Washington: The End Of Victimless Prosecution?, Andrew King-Ries

Seattle University Law Review

The article explores the Crawford decision in the context of victimless prosecutions. Part II discusses current trends in victimless domestic violence prosecution and the power and control dynamics of domestic violence relationships, including how these dynamics relate to, and create the need for, victimless prosecutions. Part III discusses the Crawford decision. Part IV explores possible interpretations of Crawford within the context of victimless domestic violence prosecutions. Part V explains why courts should interpret Crawford in a way that allows prosecutors to continue to prosecute batterers without a participating victim.


Crawford V. Washington: The End Of Victimless Prosecution?, Andrew King-Ries Jan 2005

Crawford V. Washington: The End Of Victimless Prosecution?, Andrew King-Ries

Faculty Law Review Articles

Domestic violence offenses are difficult to prosecute because the batterer's actions often make the victim unavailable to testify. Since the mid- 1990s, prosecutors have pursued "victimless" prosecutions' to combat the problem.2 Victimless prosecutions seek to introduce reliable evidence without the victim's in-court testimony, often to maintain the victim's safety or to avoid re-victimizing the victim.3 The victimless prosecution is based largely on the admission of hearsay statements that a victim makes to 911 operators, police officers, doctors, nurses, paramedics, and social workers.4 Victimless prosecution has been a highly successful tool in society's efforts to eradicate domestic violence and it is …


Refocusing On Women: A New Direction For Policy And Research On Intimate Partner Violence, Lisa A. Goodman, Deborah Epstein Jan 2005

Refocusing On Women: A New Direction For Policy And Research On Intimate Partner Violence, Lisa A. Goodman, Deborah Epstein

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A key question facing researchers of intimate partner violence is how the real-life contexts of victims’ lives should affect state policy. The bulk of recently adopted and much touted criminal justice reforms have taken the form of relatively inflexible, one-size-fits-all mandatory responses focused on counseling, restraining, and punishing batterers. Even the protection order system relies far more heavily on batterer treatment programs than on victim support to prevent future violence. Together, these reforms have largely sacrificed the contextualized, woman-centered focus from which the anti-domestic violence movement originated. Recently, however, a small body of research has emerged indicating that responding flexibly …


Domestic Violence And Mediation: Responding To The Challenges Of Crafting Effective Screens, Jane C. Murphy, Robert Rubinson Jan 2005

Domestic Violence And Mediation: Responding To The Challenges Of Crafting Effective Screens, Jane C. Murphy, Robert Rubinson

All Faculty Scholarship

Over the last two decades, mediation of family law cases has become well-established in American courts. As mediation has grown, experts have recognized that power imbalances between couples may interfere with mediation. This imbalance is particularly evident where one partner has been abusive to the other. Widespread consensus has developed that decisions about whether mediation is appropriate are particularly crucial and delicate when domestic violence is present. Despite this consensus, there is evidence that courts are still ordering couples who have experienced domestic violence to mediate their family law disputes with little or not particularized examination of the couples' circumstances. …


An Analysis Of Unified Family Courts In Maryland And California: Their Relevance For Ontario's Family Justice System, Barbara A. Babb Jan 2005

An Analysis Of Unified Family Courts In Maryland And California: Their Relevance For Ontario's Family Justice System, Barbara A. Babb

All Faculty Scholarship

The Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario has contracted with the University of Baltimore School of Law's Center for Families, Children and the Courts to prepare this research paper. The purpose of the paper is to provide an overview of unified family courts and court-connected family services in two jurisdictions, Maryland and California, as agreed to by officials of the Ministry. The overview provides information about the structure of each jurisdiction's unified family court, family services connected to the court, the role of judicial and quasi-judicial officers, the assignment and specialization of the judiciary, rules or processes to deal …


Telling Stories, Saving Lives: The Battered Mothers' Testimony Project, Women's Narratives, And Court Reform, Leigh Goodmark Dec 2004

Telling Stories, Saving Lives: The Battered Mothers' Testimony Project, Women's Narratives, And Court Reform, Leigh Goodmark

Leigh S. Goodmark

In November 2002, the Wellesley Centers for Women’s Battered Mothers’ Testimony Project released Battered Mothers Speak Out, a report detailing human rights abuses committed against forty battered mothers and their children who had litigated cases in the Massachusetts family court system. Although the report initially generated a great deal of attention, the response from the courts was overwhelmingly negative, and the report prompted no change in the courts. Because the stories of these women resonated with my own experiences representing battered women, I wondered why the report had so little effect on system change. The official response of the courts …