Law Commons^™

Defending The Indefensible To Further A Later Case: Sanctioning Respondents In Illinois Domestic Violence Cases, David H. Taylor

Northern Illinois University Law Review

When an act of domestic violence occurs in Illinois, as in most other jurisdictions, both criminal charges and a civil Domestic Violence Order of Protection may follow. The order of protection may be commenced in conjunction with a criminal charge or may be commenced as an independent action. Because of the exigencies of the domestic violence situation, the legislature has enacted a statutory scheme that expedites the civil proceeding, so that the civil order of protection proceeding takes place in a period of twenty-one days from initial filing to final hearing. In other contexts, an act of intentional injury could …

Asylum, Social Group Membership And The Non-State Actor: The Challenge Of Domestic Violence, Michael G. Heyman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article argues that the current approaches to asylum claims based on "social group" membership under the U.N. convention Relation to the Status of Refugees are deeply flawed. The Refugee Convention confers asylum on persons persecuted for their membership in a particular social group. Courts have struggled with the boundaries of the social group definition, and there appears to be no coherent way to reconcile all of the court decisions on what groups qualify as social groups under the Refugee Convention.

This Article suggests that courts adopt a consistent definition of what constitutes a social group. The definition proposed in …

Lawyers And Domestic Violence: Raising The Standard Of Practice, John M. Burman

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Lawyers and judges should be the vanguard of those working to end domestic violence and mitigate its effects, yet they are not. This article is an attempt to change that. It strives to shed some light on the profound effect domestic violence has on law and law practice, as well as the profound effect lawyers and the legal system can have on domestic violence. Part II of this article demonstrates the extent and pervasiveness of domestic violence. Part III describes how domestic violence will affect a lawyer's practice. Part IV provides guidance on what a lawyer should do to determine …

Covering Women And Violence: Media Treatment Of Vawa's Civil Rights Remedy, Sarah F. Russell

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

This Article analyzes how newspapers described and characterized the civil rights provision over the past decade and shaped the public discourse about the law. The author examines how lower federal courts, and eventually the Supreme Court, categorized the VAWA remedy when deciding whether Congress had acted within its commerce powers. After considering why there may have been resistance in the press and in the courts to VAWA's categorization of violence against women as a civil rights issue, the author concludes by examining the remedies that have been introduced at the state and local level for victims of gender-motivated violence, and …

Why Are Victims Of Domestic Violence Still Dying At The Hands Of Their Abusers? Filling The Gap In State Domestic Violence Gun Laws, Sharon L. Gold

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.