Family Law Commons^™

A Synthesis Of The Science And Law Relating To Eyewitness Misidentifications And Recommendations For How Police And Courts Can Reduce Wrongful Convictions Based On Them, Henry F. Fradella

Seattle University Law Review

The empirical literature on perception and memory consistently demonstrates the pitfalls of eyewitness identifications. Exoneration data lend external validity to these studies. With the goal of informing law enforcement officers, prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, judges, and judicial law clerks about what they can do to reduce wrongful convictions based on misidentifications, this Article presents a synthesis of the scientific knowledge relevant to how perception and memory affect the (un)reliability of eyewitness identifications. The Article situates that body of knowledge within the context of leading case law. The Article then summarizes the most current recommendations for how law enforcement personnel should—and …

Dobbs, Abortion Laws, And In Vitro Fertilization, Kerry Lynn Macintosh

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Playing God In The 21st Century: How The Push For Human Embryonic Germline Gene Editing Sidelines Individual And Generational Autonomy, Anna E. Melo

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Every four and a half minutes a child with a genetic birth defect is born in the United States. For some, these conditions are treatable and manageable, but sadly for others, they are a death sentence. Congenital malformations and chromosomal abnormalities are the leading cause of infant mortality. CRISPR-Cas9 presents hope for the future, a liberation from the heritable genetic shackles that a child would otherwise be trapped in. With such optimism for future applications of germline gene editing, there are also great concerns with what national and global limitations and auditing must be in place to permit “genetic hedging.” …

Introduction: Domestic Violence And Access To Justice Within The Family Law And Intersecting Legal Systems, Jennifer Koshan, Wanda Wiegers, Janet Mosher, Wendy Chan, Michaela Keet

Canadian Journal of Family Law

The articles in this collection explore the access to justice issues that arise for survivors of domestic violence in their encounters with Canada’s family law system. While family law and family dispute resolution processes are the central focus of the articles, three contributions also address family law's intersections with other legal domains (civil restraining orders, child welfare, and immigration). Common across the contributions is a desire to carefully interrogate the potential of law and legal processes to enhance—or conversely to undermine—the safety and well-being of survivors and their children.

Preventive Justice? Domestic Violence Protection Orders And Their Intersections With Family And Other Laws And Legal Systems, Jennifer Koshan

Canadian Journal of Family Law

Civil protection order legislation is a distinctive response to domestic violence with its focus on immediate safety and access to justice. Although the legislation was motivated by the need to broaden protective remedies for domestic violence and make them more accessible, similar remedies continue to exist and be utilized in the family law arena—for example, exclusive possession orders for the family home and restraining orders related to family disputes. Some jurisdictions also allow civil protection orders to contain conditions relevant to family law disputes, such as interim parenting orders. Intersections, overlaps and potential conflicts also exist between civil protection order …

Domestic Violence, Precarious Immigration Status, And The Complex Interplay Of Family Law And Immigration Law, Janet Mosher

Canadian Journal of Family Law

Survivors of domestic violence must frequently navigate multiple legal processes, as well as the various administrative systems that provide crucial supports and resources. For women with precarious immigration status, navigation is made all the more challenging not only because immigration and/or refugee law processes are added to the array of legal domains to be navigated, but because their access to supports and resources is both restrictive and in flux, shifting along with the changes in their immigration status.

Drawing from interviews with experienced lawyers and case law searches, I explore many of the intersections between family law and immigration law …

Bill C-92: A Catalyst For Change In The Ycja, René Allain

Canadian Journal of Family Law

This paper examines Bill C-92, An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Metis children, youth and families (2019) (C-92), and how some of its principles should inform a redrafting of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (2002) (YCJA or the Act) to address the over-incarceration of Indigenous youth. Erasing the effects of centuries of racist and genocidal policies is a herculean process that will take several generations. Disrupting this status quo must begin by allowing children an opportunity to learn and prosper within their communities. Although trite, the maxim “children are our future” holds particularly true for Indigenous Nations in Canada.

Front Matter

Canadian Journal of Family Law

No abstract provided.

Challenging Myths And Stereotypes In Domestic Violence Cases, Jennifer Koshan

Canadian Journal of Family Law

Survivors of domestic violence, who are disproportionately women, face numerous myths and stereotypes about the veracity, nature, and extent of violence they and their children experience. In legal disputes, they encounter allegations that they have lied about or exaggerated domestic violence out of vengeance, jealousy, or to gain an advantage in family law proceedings; that their partners are victims too; that abuse ends at separation or is irrelevant unless it is physical; and that it has no impact on children or only matters if it does. Although scholars and activists have revealed how these allegations are tainted by false and …

“This Isn’T Justice”: Abused Women Navigate Family Law In Greater Vancouver, Wendy Chan, Rebecca Lennox

Canadian Journal of Family Law

With the implementation of the Family Law Act in 2013, the family legal system in British Columbia saw a series of progressive reforms. These include the recognition of emotional, psychological, and financial control as family violence, a new protection order process to replace the limited restraining orders formerly available to abuse victims, a mandate that courts consider how exposure to family violence impacts children, and minimum mandatory training standards for family dispute resolution professionals. While there has been a great deal of legal commentary on these new provisions, there is a paucity of scholarly research documenting the experiences of frontline …

Mediator Discretion In Cases Involving Intimate Partner Violence, Michaela Keet, Jeff Edgar

Canadian Journal of Family Law

Mediation is a centerpiece in the ‘agreement culture’ around family law litigation. It is recognized by the courts as offering inherent protections to deal with challenging cases such as those involving intimate partner violence. To learn more about how mediators invoke and view the process’s protections, we conducted a series of interviews with senior mediators, trainers, and policymakers in the field. This article synthesizes current views within the mediation field about how to identify and screen for IPV, and implications for process management. At the heart of these interviews was the theme of mediator discretion: mediators describe and value discretion …

The Intersection Of Child Protection And Family Law Systems In Cases Of Domestic Violence, Wanda Wiegers

Canadian Journal of Family Law

Both the child protection and the family law systems are intended to promote the best interests of children, and both can profoundly affect the relationships between children and their parents or caregivers. Over the past two decades, both systems have also accorded more weight in the assessment of best interests to how exposure to domestic violence can harm or place children at risk. However, these systems have evolved differently, are governed by different statutes, and are administered in different ways. Child protection proceedings purport to have primarily a protective function and invariably involve a public agency, while family law proceedings, …

Front Matter

Canadian Journal of Family Law

No abstract provided.

If More Mormons Attended University, Would Canada Be Okay With Polygamy? Unpacking Literatures Of Social Exclusion In Canada’S Continued Criminalization Of Polygamy, Maxime D. Matthew

Canadian Journal of Family Law

In 2011, the British Columbia Supreme Court (BCSC) held it was constitutional to criminalize polygamy, framing the issue as principally about harm. I argue the Reference re: Section 293 of the Criminal Code of Canada furthers a literature of social exclusion, reifying an oversimplified binary: polygamy is harmful, polyamory is moral. Using narrative theory, I explore how these mutually constituted opposites build off each other. Polygamist Mormons are often denied whiteness, seen as an unpatriotic and racialized Other. Mormon women are othered by their attire and, despite still falling under section 293, denied agency. In contrast, the court views …

La Violence Conjugale, Familiale Et Sexuelle Dans La Réforme Du Droit De La Famille Québécois : État Des Lieux Et Solutions, Suzanne Zaccour

Canadian Journal of Family Law

Le projet de loi n^o 2, adopté en juin 2022, a prévu quelques mesures pour améliorer la réponse du système judiciaire à la violence conjugale et familiale. Or, ces mesures sont insuffisantes. Cet article analyse les nouveaux changements législatifs et présente les transformations qui manquent toujours à l’appel pour une véritable protection des mères et des enfants victimes de violence. Les solutions proposées sont les suivantes :

1) Faciliter l’identification des violences conjugales et familiales en interdisant aux tribunaux de tirer des inférences négatives quant à la capacité parentale des mères qui rapportent une situation de violence et en …

Promoting Resilience For Children And Families With Adverse Childhood Experiences, Laken Albrink

Law Faculty Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Community Property And Conflict Of Laws: A Cacophony Of Cases, Karen Boxx

Articles

Justice Cardozo is reported to have said that "the average judge, when confronted by a problem in the conflict of laws, feels almost completely lost, and, like a drowning man, will grasp at a straw." Conflict of laws can be vexing, but the resolution of a controversy involving multiple states' marital property systems can quickly become impenetrable. This is in part due to the fundamental conceptual differences between community property and common law marital property paradigms, the inconsistencies in the use of similar terms in the different systems, and the significant differences among the laws of the community property states …

Contracts For Cohabitating Romantic Partners, Bailey D. Barnes

Faculty Publications

Marriage rates in the United States are at record lows; meanwhile, more couples are choosing to live together outside of marriage. Despite the changing landscape of romantic relationships, the law of nonmarriage has not kept pace. Rather than having a coherent, majority rule approach, the individual states have employed differing methods of providing for property distribution at the end of a long-term unmarried cohabitation. Unfortunately, absent the formal protections offered by marriage for both parties following a divorce, many cohabitants are at risk of suffering inequitable property distribution following the termination of a cohabitation. This Article proposes that states uniformly …

Eliminating Cash Bail In Washington State—Amending Criminal Rule 3.2, Simran Kaur

Seattle University Law Review

This Note discusses the following three parts. Part I provides an overview of the cash bail system, its history, and its contemporary use in Washington state. Part II presents the effects of bail on pretrial release, analyzing low-income and racial inequalities and the adverse impacts it can have on the accused. Part III focuses on solutions and alternatives to the cash bail system, using other states as case studies.

Promoting Corporate Diversity: The Uncertain Role Of Institutional Investors, Jill Fisch

Seattle University Law Review

Two developments are having an impact on corporate decisions. One is the increased engagement by institutional intermediaries and a shift in the focus of that engagement from corporate governance to environmental and social issues. The other is a heightened societal awareness of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues, particularly the importance of diversity in corporate leadership. This Article considers the intersection between the two. It describes how institutional investors have focused their attention on increasing diversity in corporate leadership, the potential motivations for that focus, and the impact of that focus, to date. It highlights the tensions that result from …