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Child Maltreatment and the Law Returning to First Principles

:	Roger J. R. Levesque
:	Child Maltreatment and the Law Returning to First Principles
:	Springer-Verlag
:	9780387799186
:	1
:	CHF 47.50
:

:	Angewandte Psychologie
:	English

:	217
:	Wasserzeichen/DRM
:	PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
:	PDF

Dramatic cases of child abuse and neglect are featured with tragic regularity in the news. The stories vividly demonstrate both the urgent need for improved child protection services and the unwieldiness and ineffectiveness of the systems charged with the task. To complicate matters further, the original intent of child welfare policy is becoming increasingly obscured as legal responses to child maltreatment become more complex, intrusive, and even contradictory.

Fueled by a consistent narrative and a lucid ethical stance, Child Maltreatment and the Law analyzes the increasing role legal systems play in family life and traces rapidly evolving legal concepts as they apply to child protection. This unique volume helps readers: (1) Navigate the various layers of legal regulation - federal and state - involved in child protection and family life. (2) Identify variations and discrepancies in definitions of maltreatment and legal responses. (3) Critique the relationships and boundary disputes between the criminal and civil justice systems and agencies dedicated to children's welfare. (4) Analyze controversies (e.g., removing children from maltreating families) and other prime areas for possible reform.

Child Maltreatment and the Law is a must-read for psychologists, developmentalists, sociologists, social workers, criminologists, and researchers focusing on family life as well as policymakers and advocates working within the legal system. The book is particularly useful for courses relating to child welfare law or child abuse and neglect.

Roger J.R. Levesque, J.D. (Columbia Law School), Ph.D. (Psychology, the University of Chicago), is professor of criminal justice at Indiana University and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. Prior to his current faculty position, he was Professor of Psychology and Law at the University of Arizona.

Profess r Levesque's research focuses on the legal regulation of families and the nature of children/adolescents' rights. In addition to having published numerous journal articles, Levesque is the author of eight books (and editor of one) dealing mainly with the nature family life and the laws that shape our intimate lives. His most recent text Adolescents, Media, and the Law was published by Oxford University Press in 2007. One of his other texts dealing with intersections between human development and the law, Not by Faith Alone: Religion, Law and Adolescence (New York University Press), won the Society for the Study of Adolescence 2004 best authored book award. He also is the author of the first (and still only) law case book, Child Maltreatment Law (Carolina Academic Press), which presents legal materials and related social science information to help readers understand the breadth and depth of legal responses to child maltreatment.

	Child Maltreatment and the Law	2
	Title Page	3
	Copyright Page	4
	Contents	5
	Chapter 1	10
	The Increasingly Curious Response to Children’s Harms	10
	The Law’s Peculiar Response to Children’s Harms: Its Promise and Limitations	12
	A Precipitous Rise in Conflicting Legal Mandates and the Pressing Need to Return to First Principles	16
	The Chapters Ahead	19
	Chapter 2	23
	Families, Child Welfare, and the Constitution	23
	The Rights of Parents to Control Family Life	24
	Justifying State Intervention in Families	29
	Conclusions: Why the Law’s Assumptions About Children and Families Matter	36
	Chapter 3	39
	Suitable Families and Parents in Law	39
	Recognizing A Traditional View of Family Life	40
	The Right to Control Procreation	42
	Claims to Children Outside of Marriage	46
	The Right to Marry	52
	Hesitating to Protect Children’s Ties Outside of Nontraditional Families	55
	Conclusions: On Defining Family Ties Worth Protecting	59
	Chapter 4	65
	Defining Maltreatment and Permitting Startlingly Broad State Intervention	65
	Challenges to Definitional Uniformity and Clarity	65
	The Diverse Definitions of Child Maltreatment	68
	The Federal Government’s Approach to Defining Child Maltreatment	69
	The States’ Approaches to Defining Child Maltreatment	71
	Conclusions: The Costs and Benefits of Definitional Diversity	80
	Chapter 5	83
	Removing Children From Maltreating Families	83
	Rescuing Children From Their Parents	85
	Legislative Mandates	85
	Constitutional Mandates	87
	Fourth Amendment Protections	87
	Due Process Protections	91
	Providing Services and Alternative Care	93
	Federal Mandates	94
	State Legislative Responses	96
	Constitutional Mandates	101
	Severing Children’s Ties From Their Parents	105
	Constitutional Protections	105
	Federal Statutes	109
	State Statutes	110
	Representing Children’s Independent Interests	113
	Constitutional Mandates	113
	Federal Statutes	116
	State Statutory Mandates	117
	Conclusions: The Law’s Attachment to Diverse Responses and Discretion	120
	Chapter 6	122
	Enlisting Criminal Justice Systems in Child Protection	122
	Crafting Procedural and Evidentiary Modifications	124
	Procedural Modifications	126
	Federal Statutes	128
	State Statutes	129
	Hearsay Exceptions	131
	Federal Statutes	134
	State Statutes	136
	Recent Challenges	137
	Incapacitating Offenders	140
	Supreme Court Jurisprudence	141
	State Statutes	145
	Containing Offenders	147
	Federal Legislation	147
	State Legislation	149
	Supreme Court Jurisprudence	152
	Conclusions: The Loosening of Protections From State Controls	155
	Chapter 7	157
	Shifting Rules Regulating the Role of Expertise	157
	The Supreme Court and the Federal Rules of Evidence	158
	State Statutory and Judicial Responses	165
	Conclusions: Implications for Addressing Child Maltreatment	166
	Chapter 8	170
	Rethinking Laws Regulating Child Protection	170
	Recognize the Ubiquitous Nature of State Intervention	173
	Acknowledge the Inherent Limitations of Not Taking Rights Seriously Enough	174
	The Nature of the State’s Hidden Advantages	175
	The Law’s Typical Concerns About Hidden Advantages	177
	Take Jurisprudential Developments Seriously	180
	Recognize Significant Developments in Family-Related Liberties	180
	Address Uneven Developments in Child Protection Laws	183
	Challenge Reasons for Treating Child Protection Cases Differently	183
	Recognize the Limits of the Rapid Hybridization of Child Welfare Law	185
	Accept the Need to Treat Different Stages of Legal Intervention Differently	188
	Support More Empirical Research Focusing on Legal Processes	190
	Conclusions: Recognizing the Law’s Transformative Power	191
	Appendix A	194
	Appendix B	198
	Appendix C	202
	Appendix D	204
	References	206
	Index	210