Law Commons^™

Missouri's Innocent Citizens: An Examination Of Missouri's Response To Domestic Violence Incidents Against Children And Teens, Keith P. Freie

Keith P Freie

In 2010 the Missouri Attorney’s General’s Office created a Domestic Violence Task Force for the purpose of analyzing Missouri’s Domestic Violence laws. In 2011, the Missouri General Assembly enacted Senate Bill 320 which included several changes to Missouri’s domestic violence laws stemming from several recommendations from the Attorney General’s Task Force. While Missouri’s 2011 domestic violence law is a comprehensive solution to the many unaddressed needs of child and teen domestic violence victims, additional solutions need to be considered to fully address the problem. Those solutions may include creating special domestic violence and child abuse courts and creating educational programs …

Back To The Drawing Board: Barriers To Joint Decision-Making In Custody Cases Involving Intimate Partner Violence, Dana Harrington Conner

Dana Harrington Conner

For survivors of intimate partner violence, custody is, without question, one of the most important issues addressed by our legal system. For battered women, the court’s decision regarding their children is critical. As a result, legal scholars have examined, in depth, the value of sole custody awards in favor of battered women, as well as the dangers of joint custody. To that end, this Article considers, beyond the obvious risks of physical harm, why joint legal custody is not a viable alternative to sole legal custody in cases involving intimate partner violence. In addition, by de-constructing the fundamental aspects of …

Teaching Social Justice Lawyering: Systematically Including Community Legal Education In Clinical Legal Education, Margaret Johnson, Catherine Klein, Margaret Barry, Lisa Martin, A. Camp

Margaret E Johnson

There is a body of literature on clinical legal theory that urges a focus in clinics beyond the single client to an explicit teaching of social justice lawyering. This Article adds to this emerging body of work by discussing the valuable role community legal education plays as a vehicle for teaching skills and values essential to single client representation and social justice lawyering. The Article examines the theoretical underpinnings of clinical legal education, community organizing and community education and how they influenced the authors’ design and implementation of community legal education within their clinics. It then discusses two projects designed …

How House Bill 2063 And The Expansion Of Access To Protective Orders Could Have Saved Yeardley Love's Life, Amy Weiss

Law Student Publications

This paper will examine Virginia protective order law before the enactment of House Bill 2063, how Yeardley Love’s death was a catalyst for reform of the law, how the law will change under House Bill 2063, and possible future developments in legislative reform that could further help victims of intimate partner violence.

From Protection To Punishment: Post-Conviction Barriers To Justice For Domestic Violence Survivor-Defendants In New York State, Tamar Kraft-Stolar, Elizabeth Brundige, Sital Kalantry, Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum, Avon Global Center For Women And Justice At Cornell Law School, Women In Prison Project (Correctional Association Of New York)

Avon Global Center for Women and Justice and Dorothea S. Clarke Program in Feminist Jurisprudence

No abstract provided.

Legal Experiences Of Women Survivors Of Domestic Violence: A Need For Policies That Address The Justice Gap, Kimberly Ann Puhala

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The problems associated with the civil legal system for women who have experienced domestic violence have been persistent over time and still exist today. The current sociopolitical context in this state frames access to civil legal services either through a means-tested (and underfunded) program (Civil Legal Assistance) or as a privately purchased market service. This leaves a limited amount of low- or no-cost alternatives, which creates a gap in services for those women whose income is too high to qualify for Civil Legal Assistance programs, yet too low to afford to hire a private attorney. This study examines this two-tiered …

History Redux: The Unheard Voices Of Domestic Violence Victims, A Comment On Aviva Orenstein’S Sex, Threats And Absent Victims, Myrna S. Raeder

Res Gestae

No abstract provided.

Domestic Violence And The Budget Crisis: The Use Of A Risk Assessment Tool To Manage Cases In Prosecutors’ Offices, Carrie M. Hobbs

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment addresses the growing concern that the incompatible forces of shrinking budgets and increased caseloads are leading to ineffective domestic violence case management, particularly in prosecutors’ offices. With so many cases and so few resources, prosecutors need tools to discern which cases should have priority. Recognizing that risk assessment tools have many drawbacks, this Comment advocates for development of a risk assessment tool that can help prosecutors determine which cases to pursue and assist them in making other pretrial determinations. Part II of this Comment provides a background on domestic violence research and isolates the issues that arise in …

Home Is Where The Crime Is, I. Bennett Capers

Michigan Law Review

Think of home. Go on. Maybe not your parents' home, which for this reviewer would be enough to induce heavy breathing and general anxiety. Rather, think about the concept of home. Think about the idea of home. Think about Home with a capital letter. Think of home as in The Wizard of Oz and Dorothy's famous "There's no place like home." Think "home sweet home." Or "home is where the heart is." Go on. Of course, there may be other associations that come to mind when one thinks of home. There's security. Safety. Control. Home rule. After all, in the …

Let's Get Serious: Spousal Abuse Should Be A Complete Bar To Inheritance, Carla Spivack

Carla Spivack

I argue that a finding that a spouse or intimate partner committed domestic violence should bar that person’s inheritance from the victim under a will, a will substitute (such as a trust) and under intestacy – in other words, in any form. Unlike the few similar proposals in the literature, I advocate a complete bar, and I situate the proposal in the context of inheritance law in general and fault-based inheritance regimes in particular. Further, unlike previous proposals, I justify the bar as an important use of the law’s expressive function and as a systemic approach to domestic violence. I …

Coerced Debt: An Empirical Examination Of The Role Consumer Credit In Domestic Violence, Angela K. Littwin

Angela K Littwin

When one pictures domestic violence, consumer credit probably does not come to mind. Physical and sexual abuse in intimate relationships has become an acknowledged reality. Structural abuse, which includes tactics such as isolating victims from other relationships and cutting off access to transportation, has also made headway in the public consciousness. Even forms of economic abuse that depress victims’ income have been well-documented. But there is another facet of domestic violence that has not yet been recognized: financial abuse through consumer credit. As consumer lending has permeated American life, violent partners have begun using debt as a means of exercising …

Gender And The Law: Mexican Legislation On Domestic Violence, Marta Torres Falcon

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Exporting Subjects: Globalizing Family Law Progress Through International Human Rights, Cyra Akila Choudhury

Michigan Journal of International Law

In our popular culture and social consciousness, women are no longer the second-class citizens they used to be. Magazines, television advertisements, and billboards featuring women show us how we have achieved independence, wealth, desirability, and our intelligence. We are no longer the supporting role in movies and entertainment but stars in our own right. For this, we can thank both changing society and the unrelenting work of many women who refused to bring the coffee for the boss. The women's movement in the United States has made large gains for women through the use of social activism and legal action. …

Coalition, Cross-Cultural Lawyering, And Intersectionality: Immigrant Identity As A Barrier To Effective Legal Counseling For Domestic Violence Victims, Jessica H. Stein

Jessica Stein

Cultural differences can be the most difficult barrier to overcome and the hardest to define when working with immigrant victims of domestic violence. This issue also seems to be the most puzzling and frustrating to attorneys, with answers that can be uncomfortable and that offend a progressive, liberal sense of lawyering. Drawing on critical race theory, I argue that the problems faced by immigrant victims in seeking help can only be solved by the recognition of the intersectionalities apparent in immigrant domestic violence cases, by the use and encouragement of cross-cultural lawyering, requiring a sincere effort by attorneys to be …

'Til Death Do Us Part: Why Personal Jurisdiction Is Required To Issue Victim Protection Orders Against Nonresident Abusers, Bevan J. Graybill

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Hendershott Ruling: When Mediation Runs Into Domestic Violence, Eduardo R.C. Capulong

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article examines the Montana Supreme Court's decision in Hendershott v. Westphal, a case of first impression in which the Court held that MCA 40-4-301(2) bars district courts in family law proceedings "from authorizing or continuing mediation of any kind where there is a reason to suspect emotional, physical, or sexual abuse."

Confrontation And Domestic Violence Post-Davis: Is There And Should There Be A Doctrinal Exception, Eleanor Simon

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Close to five million intimate partner rapes and physical assaults are perpetrated against women in the United States annually. Domestic violence accounts for twenty percent of all non-fatal crime experienced by women in this county. Despite these statistics, many have argued that in the past six years the Supreme Court has "put a target on [the] back" of the domestic violence victim, has "significantly eroded offender accountability in domestic violence prosecutions," and has directly instigated a substantial decline in domestic violence prosecutions. The asserted cause is the Court's complete and groundbreaking re-conceptualization of the Sixth Amendment right of a criminal …

On Race, Gender, And Radical Tort Reform: A Review Of Martha Chamallas & Jennifer B. Wriggins, The Measure Of Injury: Race, Gender, And Tort Law, Vincent R. Johnson

Faculty Articles

The Measure of Injury is an intellectual tour de force of gender and race-based jurisprudence applied to critical issues in the law of torts. In this volume, Martha Chamallas and Jennifer B. Wriggins shed light on numerous issues related to law governing accidents and intentional injuries, while offering insights into the American tort system and the challenges it faces.

Chamallas and Wriggins draw upon the feminist theory, critical race theory, and general critical theory in analyzing tort doctrines and evaluating potential reforms. The authors explore how racial perceptions can distort even seemingly neutral inquiries, such as those related to factual …

A Diva Defends Herself: Gender And Domestic Violence In An Early Twentieth-Century Headline Trial, Carolyn B. Ramsey

Publications

This short article was presented as part of a symposium on headline criminal trials, organized by St. Louis University School of Law in honor of Lawrence Friedman. It describes and analyzes the self-defense acquittal of opera singer Mae Talbot in Nevada in 1910 on charges of murdering her abusive husband. Based on extensive research into archival trial records and newspaper reports, the article discusses how the press, the court, and trial lawyers on both sides depicted the killing and Mae’s possible defenses. Without discounting the sensationalism and entertainment value, to a scandal-hungry public, of stories about violent marriages, I contend …

Domestic Violence And State Intervention In The American West And Australia, 1860-1930, Carolyn B. Ramsey

Publications

This Article calls into question stereotypical assumptions about the presumed lack of state intervention in the family and the patriarchal violence of Anglo-American frontier societies in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By analyzing previously unexamined cases of domestic assault and homicide in the American West and Australia, Professor Ramsey reveals a sustained (but largely ineffectual) effort to civilize men by punishing violence against women. Husbands in both the American West and Australia were routinely arrested or summoned to court for beating their wives in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Judges, police officers, journalists, and others expressed dismay …

When Courts Collide: Integrated Domestic Violence Courts And Court Pluralism, Elizabeth L. Macdowell

Scholarly Works

This Article proposes court pluralism as a new theory for analyzing the role of the justice system in addressing domestic violence. It argues that a systemic view of the justice system is essential to developing coherent reform strategies, and lays out the foundation for taking into account the unique functions of civil and criminal justice in domestic violence cases. In doing so, the Article challenges the one-dimensional characterization of a fragmented court system as bad for victims of domestic violence that dominates legal scholarship, and shows that court fragmentation can be an opportunity and potential source of protection from systemic …

African-American Grandmothers: Does The Gender-Entrapment Theory Apply? Essay Response To Professor Beth Richie, Jessica Dixon Weaver

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Many African-American grandmothers are entrapped by the cycle of incarceration in poor black communities. This Essay explores whether the social and economic conditions that compel battered women to commit crimes also impact their mothers - who end up raising the children they leave behind. Professor Beth Richie's theory of gender entrapment as described in her book, “Compelled to Crime,” is not limited to incarcerated women who have been victims of domestic violence. African-American grandmothers who take on the role of kinship caregivers for their grandchildren are also entrapped by a complex interplay of race, gender, and class, making them vulnerable …

Preventing The Unnecessary Entry Of Children Into Foster Care, Vivek Sankaran

Articles

A young mother of three endures abuse at the hands of the children's father. Her children repeatedly witness the violence in their home and describe it to a school teacher, who in turn places a call to Child Protective Services (CPS). A CPS investigator arrives at the home the next morning with a plethora of questions for the mother and her children. Have the children been hit? Did they observe the beatings? What steps has their mother taken to protect them? An adversarial conversation ensues. Unsatisfactory answers may lead to tragic consequences-the removal of the children from their home.

In Search Of Guidance: An Examination Of Past, Present, And Future Adjudications Of Domestic Violence Asylum Claims, Barbara R. Barreno

Vanderbilt Law Review

L-R- is a Mexican woman who applied for asylum in the United States in 2005. She is one of countless victims of gender-based violence, which in recent decades has become a matter of international concern and which policymakers around the world have taken steps to combat. The United States has been among the nations that have made eliminating gender-based violence a priority by passing such legislation as the Violence Against Women Act ("VAWA") and by creating two special forms of visas for victims of domestic violence. While great strides have been taken to protect immigrant women who are already in …

The Connection Between Animal Abuse And Family Violence: A Selected Annotated Bibliography, Sharon L. Nelson

Animal Law Review

This Selected Annotated Bibliography assembles legal and social literature that examines the link between domestic violence and animal abuse. Drawing from an ever-growing body of written works dedicated to the issue, the Bibliography presents the works that are most informative and useful to the legal community. These include case studies, current and proposed legislation, and social services guides that address the occurrence of and response to the animal cruelty-family violence correlation. In doing so, the Bibliography creates a resource that will prove helpful to a variety of legal practitioners, law makers, and professionals within the criminal justice system, and will …

Coercion's Common Threads: Addressing Vagueness In The Federal Criminal Prohibitions On Torture By Looking To State Domestic Violence Laws, Sarah H. St. Vincent

Michigan Law Review

Under international law, the United States is obligated to criminalize acts of torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. However, the federal criminal torture laws employ several terms whose meanings are so indeterminate that they inhibit the statutes' effectiveness and fail to provide adequate guidance regarding precisely which forms of mistreatment may result in prosecution. These ambiguous terms have given rise to serious and prolonged controversies within the executive branch regarding what torture is-controversies that confirm, and may further compound, the uncertainty of liability under the laws in question.

In order to solve this problem of vagueness and provide definitive …

The State-Created Danger Doctrine In Domestic Violence Cases: Do We Have A Solution In Okin V. Village Of Cornwall-On-Hudson Police Department?, Atinuke O. Adediran

Atinuke Adediran

Batterers As Agents Of The State: Challenging The Public/Private Distinction In Intimate Partner Violence-Based Asylum Claims, Marisa S. Cianciarulo

Marisa S. Cianciarulo

Intimate partner violence has been recognized by asylum-providing countries as a form of persecution. Nevertheless, it has often been difficult for battered women to establish their eligibility for asylum. Frustratingly, it is often the public/private distinction that is the culprit in the failure of survivors of intimate partner violence to prove their asylum claims. Adjudicators of asylum claims often view intimate partner violence as a private matter: a husband harming his wife on account of personal reasons. This scenario stands in stark contrast to the more traditional asylum claim: an agent of the state harming a citizen on account of …