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Full-Text Articles in Law
Kairos And Safe Havens: The Timing And Calamity Of Unwanted Birth, Susan Ayres
Kairos And Safe Havens: The Timing And Calamity Of Unwanted Birth, Susan Ayres
Susan Ayres
It is impossible to know the number of infants killed or illegally abandoned at birth. No official reporting requirements exist, but conservative estimates claim that in the United States, 150-300 infants are killed within twenty-four hours of life and that over 100 infants are illegally abandoned. Beginning in 1999, in an effort to stem the problem of neonaticide and illegal abandonment, states began enacting laws to legalize abandonment. By 2008, all fifty states had enacted safe haven laws, which allow parents to anonymously abandon newborns by delivering them to designated providers, such as hospitals. This article provides a practical and …
Incest In A Thousdand Acres: Cheap Trick Or Feminist Re-Vision, Susan Ayres
Incest In A Thousdand Acres: Cheap Trick Or Feminist Re-Vision, Susan Ayres
Susan Ayres
This article ultimately argues that the plot changes are not a cheap trick intended to manipulate the reader's emotions, but a feminist re-vision, which succeeds or not depending on the reader's critical feminist perspective. Thus, Part Two delineates several feminist stances, such as liberal feminism, radical feminism, social feminism, and postmodern feminism, and summarizes the plot changes Smiley has imposed on King Lear. Part Three considers one major plot change - the longing for the mother - in terms of patriarchy's suppression of a maternal genealogy and feminine language. This part argues that the novel successfully demonstrates the difficulty in …
[N]Ot A Story To Pass On: Constructing Mothers Who Kill, Susan Ayres
[N]Ot A Story To Pass On: Constructing Mothers Who Kill, Susan Ayres
Susan Ayres
Toni Morrison has said in her Nobel acceptance speech, “We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.” How we “do language” in judicial decisions about infanticide can perhaps be compared to and informed by fiction such as Toni Morrison’s Beloved.
Beloved provides a fictional account of the life of a historical woman, a slave who escaped to freedom and then attempted to kill all four of her children, successfully killing one when her master came to claim her under the Fugitive Slave Act. In addition to …
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle: How Children's Literature Reflects Motherhood, Identity, And International Adoption, Susan Ayres
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle: How Children's Literature Reflects Motherhood, Identity, And International Adoption, Susan Ayres
Susan Ayres
Children's books are "a source of law" for children because "[children] are constantly trying to make sense of what is going on around them, and although literature itself is only a constituent of life experience, as a constituent it is potentially of the greatest importance." As adults and lawyers, we can also read children's books as a source of law because they reflect patriarchal ideologies about the family and stigma surrounding adoption. Like other myths, children's books tell stories about origins and constitute not only subjects but are also the foundation of law by reflecting legal norms and projecting legal …
Newfound Religion: Mothers, God, And Infanticide, Susan Ayres
Newfound Religion: Mothers, God, And Infanticide, Susan Ayres
Susan Ayres
This essay focuses on cultural constructions of infanticide and psychosis, especially cases in which the mother heard delusional commands to kill her children. Part I examines the background of the Yates, Laney, and Diaz cases. Part II explores whether these mothers can be seen paradoxically as feminist subjects of empowerment rather than as victims. This essay argues that psychotic mothers have been disempowered and silenced, so their acts cannot be seen as subversive feminist gestures. Part III, however, arguest that the legal trials of Laney and Diaz demonstrate a possible subversion through trial strategy. These two trials more fully told …
Denial And Concealment Of Unwanted Pregnancy: "A Film Hollywood Dared Not Do", Susan Ayres, Prema Manjunath
Denial And Concealment Of Unwanted Pregnancy: "A Film Hollywood Dared Not Do", Susan Ayres, Prema Manjunath
Susan Ayres
The actual cases and two films examined in this essay challenge stock narratives of mothers who deny or conceal unwanted pregnancy as a monster, or a victim, and also challenge "legal norms, logic and structures" pertaining to unwanted pregnancy and neonaticide. This essay draws on films because of their influential power to "reach enormous audiences by combining narratives and appealing characters with visual imagery and technological achievement, ... stir deep emotions and leave deep impressions." For these reasons, Orit Kamir asserts that films are more compelling than "theoretical legal texts or even judicial rhetoric." The two films examined -- Stephanie …
Paternity Fraud: Regulation Of Women’S Sexuality And Family Relationships, Susan Ayres
Paternity Fraud: Regulation Of Women’S Sexuality And Family Relationships, Susan Ayres
Susan Ayres
No abstract provided.
Paternity Fraud And Family Secrets, Susan Ayres