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1999

Criminal Law

Child abuse

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Law

2. Are Battered Women Bad Mothers? Rethinking The Termination Of Abused Women’S Parental Rights For Failure To Protect., Thomas D. Lyon Jul 1999

2. Are Battered Women Bad Mothers? Rethinking The Termination Of Abused Women’S Parental Rights For Failure To Protect., Thomas D. Lyon

Thomas D. Lyon

It is often stated that intervention on behalf of abused and neglected children is intended to protect the child rather than punish the parent.  This stance justifies a no-fault approach to child protection: If a child is being harmed and removal from the parents' custody is the only means to alleviate the harm, removal is justified. If reunification fails, regardless of whether the parent will not or cannot change, the termination of parental rights is justified. It matters not whether the parents acted to harm the child or failed to act to prevent harm. Nor does it matter whether the …

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Criminal Law: "Am I My Brother's Keeper?" Sherrice's Law: A Balance Of American Notions Of Duty And Liberty, Justin T. King Jan 1999

Criminal Law: "Am I My Brother's Keeper?" Sherrice's Law: A Balance Of American Notions Of Duty And Liberty, Justin T. King

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

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Childhood Abuse And Adult Murder: Implications For The Death Penalty, Phyllis L. Crocker Jan 1999

Childhood Abuse And Adult Murder: Implications For The Death Penalty, Phyllis L. Crocker

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

A jury that convicts a defendant of capital murder must then decide whether that defendant deserves a life sentence or death. Mitigating evidence is crucial to the defense at this stage because such evidence may provide the jury with a basis for imposing a life sentence. In this article, Professor Crocker argues that evidence that a defendant was abused as a child is paradigmatic mitigating evidence. A detailed presentation of the defendant's childhood experience and a cogent explanation of its long-term repercussions will enable the jury to understand why the defendant committed the crime, perhaps allowing the jury to sympathize …

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Justification By Faith, Carl E. Schneider Jan 1999

Justification By Faith, Carl E. Schneider

Articles

In June 1997 a sixteen-year-old girl named Shannon Nixon began to feel ill. Her parents belonged to the Faith Tabernacle Church, one of a number of American sects which believe that illness should be treated spiritually rather than medically. Accordingly, the Nixons prayed for Shannon and took her to be anointed at their church. Shannon reported that she felt better and that the spiritual treatment had gained her her victory-her recovery. Before long, however, Shannon again felt ill. She became weaker and weaker and then fell into a coma. A few hours later she died. An autopsy revealed that she …

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5. Young Maltreated Children’S Competence To Take The Oath., Thomas D. Lyon, Karen J. Saywitz Dec 1998

5. Young Maltreated Children’S Competence To Take The Oath., Thomas D. Lyon, Karen J. Saywitz

Thomas D. Lyon

Two studies examined I92 maltreated young children's competence to take the oath.  Study I found that despite serious delays in receptive vocabulary, a majority of 5-year-olds correctly identified truthful statements and lies as such and recognized that lying is bad and would make authority figures mad. However, most participants up to 7 years of age could not define "truth" and "lie" or explain the difference between the terms. Four-year-olds were above chance in recognizing the immorality of lying but exhibited a tendency to identify all statements as the "truth. " Study 2 found that 4- and 5-year-olds performed above chance …

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4. The New Wave Of Suggestibility Research: A Critique., Thomas D. Lyon Dec 1998

4. The New Wave Of Suggestibility Research: A Critique., Thomas D. Lyon

Thomas D. Lyon

The new wave in children's suggestibility research consists of a prestigious group of researchers in developmental psychology who argue that children are highly vulnerable to suggestive interviewing techniques. Because of its scientific credentials, its moderate tone, and its impressive body of research, the new wave presents a serious challenge to those who have claimed that children are unlikely to allege sexual abuse falsely. Although we can learn much from the research, concerns over society's ability to detect abuse motivate three criticisms. First, the new-wave researchers assume that highly suggestive interviewing techniques are the norm in abuse investigations, despite little empirical …

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