Family Law Commons^™

Humanize, Don't Paternalize: Victim-Offender Mediation After Intimate Partner Violence, Ren Warden

University of Richmond Law Review

Retributive legal systems fail survivors of intimate partner violence. In criminal cases, when the government and the offender are the parties to the matter, the legal status of a survivor is reduced to that of a mere witness. Survivors then must surrender their agency in the fight against their own trauma. Survivors of intimate partner violence (“IPV”) who turn to civil litigation to recover after their experiences may experience further trauma as a result of time-consuming, extensive, and often invasive contact with the legal system. Even restitution, a largely restorative remedy, lacks the agency, finality, and emotive opportunities that IPV …

Choosing Children: Preventing Intra-Family Conflict From Feeding The Prison Pipeline, Samantha D. Mier

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Parents struggling to raise challenging children often lack needed community

support. These parents turn to law enforcement when they feel their

child cannot be controlled. Problematically, law enforcement officers are

trained to respond to crime, not simple parent-child domestic disputes. Thus,

when parents call police during disagreements, the argument may end in arrest

and contact with the juvenile court system. Interaction with the juvenile

justice system carries a myriad of risks. This comment outlines the risks inherent

in calling the police and entering the juvenile court system. The author

evaluates existing alternatives to calling law enforcement and recommends

that communities …

A Gardener's Tale: Confronting Racial Discrimination At The Intersection Of The School-To-Prison Pipeline And Adolescent Health, Sogand Falahatpour

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Racism is a public health crisis and it is killing Black youth. Systemic racism

in education is a root cause of a long list of inequities faced by Black

youth. These inequities compound over the years and create extreme hurdles

to academic success and, in many cases, are hazardous to overall health.

The school-to-prison pipeline is a severe health equity issue affecting

Black children and adolescents. Racism is a core social determinant of health

that has a profound impact on child and adolescent health. Moreover, health

is not just an individual matter; institutional and structural forces influence

who has access …

Disrupting The School-To-Prison Pipeline: Reforming The Role Of The School Resource Officer, Olivia Seksinsky

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

A School Resource Officer (“SRO”) is a law enforcement officer employed

by local law enforcement agencies to provide security to public schools. As

a result of fatal and highly publicized school shootings such as Columbine

and Parkland, SROs have become a fixed aspect of many school communities.

There are tens of thousands of SROs patrolling the halls of Virginia’s

public elementary and secondary schools every year. Despite their intended

purpose to keep students safe and prevent crime, SROs too often contribute

to the school-to-prison pipeline. When SROs are brought into the classroom

to address “disruptive” behaviors, students are at an …

Credible: Why We Doubt Accusers And Protect Abusers: A Book Talk With Author Deborah Tuerkheimer, Deborah Tuerkheimer, Emily Sack

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

P*Law 2022, Center For Public Service Law

2021–2022 Flyers

This document outlines the full schedule for P*LAW Week 2022 at Cardozo School of Law, presented by the Center for Public Service Law. Held virtually from January 24 to January 27, the week featured panels, workshops, and discussions on key issues in public interest law, including immigration policy, educational equity, criminal justice reform, reproductive rights, data privacy, military law, labor rights, and overdose prevention. Events brought together legal professionals, advocates, scholars, and Cardozo students to explore law’s role in advancing social justice and supporting vulnerable communities.

The New Jim And Jane Crow Intersect: Challenges To Defending The Parental Rights Of Mothers During Incarceration, Carla Laroche

Scholarly Articles

Family law scholars and advocates have expressed the importance of providing counsel to parents in the family regulation system, especially parents who are incarcerated, because of the system’s complexities. This article establishes, however, that when mothers must navigate both the family regulation and criminal legal systems, the protections appointed parents’ counsel are supposed to provide are weakened. These harms are heightened especially for Black mothers within the carceral state. As this article shows, appointed lawyers in family regulation cases cannot properly protect the due process rights of mothers who are incarcerated because of the added challenges both mothers and their …

A Call To Dismantle Systemic Racism In Criminal Legal Systems, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Margaret C. Stevenson

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Objectives: In October 2021, APA passed a resolution addressing ways psychologists could work to dismantle systemic racism in criminal legal systems. The present report, developed to inform APA’s policy resolution, details the scope of the problem and offers recommendations for policy and psychologists to address the issue by advancing related science and practice. Specifically, it acknowledges the roots of modern-day racial and ethnic disparities in rates of criminalization and punishment for people of color as compared to White people. Next, the report reviews existing theory and research that helps explain the underlying psychological mechanisms driving racial and ethnic disparities …

2021 Surveys Of Rhode Island Law

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Monasky’S Totality Of Circumstances Is Vague – The Child’S Perspective Should Be The Main Test, Sabrina Salvi

Touro Law Review

After decades of confusion, the Supreme Court ruled on child custody in an international setting in Monasky v. Taglieri, by attempting to establish the definition of a child’s “habitual residence.” The Court held that a child’s “residence in a particular country can be deemed ‘habitual, however, only when her residence there is more than transitory.’” Further, the Court stated that, ‘“[h]abitual’ implies customary, usual, of the nature of a habit.”’ However, the Supreme Court’s ruling remains unclear. The 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (“HCCAICA” or “The Hague Convention”), which is adopted in ninety-eight …

The Haunting Of Her House: How Virginia Law Punishes Women Who Become Mothers Through Rape, Jordan S. Miceli

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

If a rape victim becomes pregnant following the attack, she has three options: abort the pregnancy, place the child for adoption, or keep and raise the child. However, by requiring proof of conviction of rape to terminate the parental rights of the man who fathered that child through his rape, the Commonwealth of Virginia imposes a substantial burden on a victim weighing those options. To obtain a conviction under the current scheme, a victim, through her local prosecutor, has to prove to a jury that the accused committed the rape beyond a reasonable doubt. The Commonwealth requires proof of conviction …

Standing By To Protect Child Abuse Victims: Utilizing Standby Counsel In Lieu Of Personal Cross-Examination, Claire Murtha

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Child abuse is a pervasive problem in the United States. Often, the abused child’s word is the only evidence to prove the abuse in court. For this reason, the child’s testimony is critical. Testifying can pose a challenge for the abused child who must face her abuser in the courtroom, especially if that abuser personally questions her.

The United States Supreme Court has recognized the legitimate and strong interest the state has in protecting the psychological and physical well-being of children. When a child will face significant trauma and cannot reasonably communicate in the courtroom, the child can be questioned …

Inheritance Crimes, David Horton, Reid Kress Weisbord

Washington Law Review

The civil justice system has long struggled to resolve disputes over end-of-life transfers. The two most common grounds for challenging the validity of a gift, will, or trust— mental incapacity and undue influence—are vague, hinge on the state of mind of a dead person, and allow factfinders to substitute their own norms and preferences for the donor’s intent. In addition, the slayer doctrine—which prohibits killers from inheriting from their victims—has generated decades of constitutional challenges.

But recently, these controversial rules have migrated into an area where the stakes are significantly higher: the criminal justice system. For example, states have criminalized …

Appraising Problems, Not Stuff, Chad J. Pomeroy

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming.

Chimerism And Mosaicism: The Fallibility Of Dna Evidence, Robert Ellis-Liang

Child and Family Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of Gender-Based Violence Laws In Canada: A Report For The National Action Plan On Gender-Based Violence Working Group On Responsive Legal And Justice Systems, Jennifer Koshan, Janet Mosher, Wanda Wiegers

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

This report undertakes a comparison of laws related to gender-based violence across Canada with a view to identifying promising practices. We use the definition of gender-based violence from the United Nations as our frame, analyzing laws relating to “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.” While the UN definition includes both intimate partner violence and sexual violence, our focus is largely on violence in the …

The Absence Or Misuse Of Statistics In Forensic Science As A Contributor To Wrongful Convictions: From Pattern Matching To Medical Opinions About Child Abuse, Keith A. Findley

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The new scrutiny that has been applied to the forensic sciences since the emergence of DNA profiling as the gold standard three decades ago has identified numerous concerns about the absence of a solid scientific footing for most disciplines. This article examines one of the lesser-considered problems that afflicts virtually all of the pattern-matching (or “individualization”) disciplines (largely apart from DNA), and even undermines the validity of other forensic disciplines like forensic pathology and medical determinations about child abuse, particularly Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma (SBS/AHT). That problem is the absence or misuse of statistics. This article begins by applying …

Akibat Hukum Pengalihan Objek Jaminan Fidusia Atas Nama Pasangan Dalam Perkawinan Sebagai Pemberi Fidusia Oleh Pasangan Lainnya (Studi Kasus Putusan Pengadilan Negeri Pekanbaru Nomor: 853/Pid.Sus/2019/Pn Pbr), Radhika Bagas Prabowo

Indonesian Notary

Pemberi fidusia dalam perjanjian pembiayaan konsumen dengan jaminan fidusia dilarang mengalihkan objek jaminan fidusia kepada pihak lain tanpa persetujuan dari penerima fidusia. Hal ini disebabkan dalam Undang-undang Nomor 42 tahun 1999 tentang Jaminan Fidusia (UU Fidusia) tercantum ketentuan mengenai larangan untuk mengalihkan objek jaminan fidusia tanpa persetujuan dari penerima fidusia. Penelitian ini membahas mengenai 1.akibat hukum pengalihan objek jaminan fidusia atas nama pasangan dalam perkawinan sebagai pemberi fidusia oleh pasangan lainnya, dan 2.perlindungan hukum bagi penerima fidusia akibat adanya pengalihan objek jaminan fidusia oleh pasangan perkawinan dari pemberi fidusia. Putusan pengadilan negeri Pekanbaru nomor: 853/Pid.sus/2019/Pn Pbr yang menjadi studi kasus …

The Stability Paradox: The Two-Parent Paradigm And The Perpetuation Of Violence Against Women In Termination Of Parental Rights And Custody Cases, Judith Lewis

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Despite changing family compositions, entrenched in family law is the antiquated idea that a two-parent household, or its approximation vis-à-vis a shared custody arrangement, promotes stability and integrity and, thus, is in the best interest of the child. Yet, the concept that the two-parent household (or shared involvement of both parents in the child’s life if the parents separate) promotes stability for the family and is best for the child is a dangerous fallacy. When rape or intimate partner violence (IPV) is present, or the re-occurrence of violence remains a threat, the family unit is far from stable.

This Article …

Using A Civil Designation As A Sword And A Shield In Domestic Violence Order Of Protection Hearings: Eviscerating The Constitutional Rights Of Criminal Defendants Charged With Domestic Battery In The State Of Illinois, 53 Uic J. Marshall L. Rev. 705 (2021), Elliott Borchardt

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fraud Law And Misinfodemics, Wes Henricksen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Duress In Immigration Law, Elizabeth A. Keyes

Seattle University Law Review

The doctrine of duress is common to other bodies of law, but the application of the duress doctrine is both unclear and highly unstable in immigration law. Outside of immigration law, a person who commits a criminal act out of well-placed fear of terrible consequences is different than a person who willingly commits a crime, but American immigration law does not recognize this difference. The lack of clarity leads to certain absurd results and demands reimagining, redefinition, and an unequivocal statement of the significance of duress in ascertaining culpability. While there are inevitably some difficult lines to be drawn in …

The Ball Is In Whose Court? Rhode Island’S Need For An Integrated Domestic Violence Court, Brendan Horan

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

The Dysfunctional Criminalization Of Family Violence, Andrea L. Dennis

Scholarly Works

Legal responses to elder, child and intimate partner abuse have developed along similar tracks from civil and regulatory to criminal, employed much of the same mechanisms, and shifted power from victims to law enforcement officers and prosecutors. The siloed evolutionary process leading to the criminalization of the se behaviors has not significantly resolved the problems and criticisms of the behavior. Indeed, thirty years ago, Peter Edelman critiqued the government's role in remediating child abuse and domestic violence. In particular Edelman identified three issues: (1) the failure to recognize the inter-relatedness of different types of family violence; (2) the lack of …

Law School News: Two Rwu Law Alumni Included Among Historic Judicial Nominations 12-08-2020, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

The Pro Bono Collaborative Project Spotlight: Can You Help? December 2020, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Pro Bono Collaborative Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Re-Victimization Of Domestic Violence Victims, Angela De La Garza

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Dispute Settlement Under The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: A Preliminary Assessment, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) will add a new dispute settlement system to the plethora of judicial mechanisms designed to resolve trade disputes in Africa. Against the discontent of Member States and limited impact the existing highly legalized trade dispute settlement mechanisms have had on regional economic integration in Africa, this paper undertakes a preliminary assessment of the AfCFTA Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM). In particular, the paper situates the AfCFTA-DSM in the overall discontent and unsupportive practices of African States with highly legalized dispute settlement systems and similar WTO-Styled DSMs among other shortcomings. Notwithstanding the transplantation of …

Enough Is As Good As A Feast, Noah C. Chauvin

Seattle University Law Review

Ipse Dixit, the podcast on legal scholarship, provides a valuable service to the legal community and particularly to the legal academy. The podcast’s hosts skillfully interview guests about their legal and law-related scholarship, helping those guests communicate their ideas clearly and concisely. In this review essay, I argue that Ipse Dixit has made a major contribution to legal scholarship by demonstrating in its interview episodes that law review articles are neither the only nor the best way of communicating scholarly ideas. This contribution should be considered “scholarship,” because one of the primary goals of scholarship is to communicate new ideas.