Underage abortion and beyond: developments of Spanish law in competent minor's autonomy

This paper examines the recent developments in underage abortion and related questions in Spanish law. Despite the prevalence of the language of autonomy, like in Britain, children's interests are not defined in Spain by relying exclusively on the competent child's views. Parental opinion and societal expectations are given due weight, although sometimes only implicitly. Calculated ambiguity in legal practice and in the relevant legal texts provides evidence of the pervasive influence of deeply rooted distrust as against clear-cut rules favouring a young person's autonomy.     

Protective order legislation: Trends in state statutes

Very little research has examined state legislation on protective orders. This study examined recent state statutes and compared the findings with a landmark 1988 study. Results indicated that more recent laws provided greater access to victims and expanded their eligible populations to include categories that were excluded in earlier legislation (i.e., dating partners, sexual partners, and same-sex partners). Orders increased slightly in duration and there were more access to them outside of normal working hours. Compared with earlier legislation, newer laws were more apt to authorize judges to fashion remedies that address financial matters. Penalties for violations remained relatively stable, although states were increasingly willing to use enhanced sanctions for repeat offenders. States continued to use mandatory arrest to enforce orders, although this trend was not as pronounced as one might have anticipated. Finally, legislators incorporated many aspects of new federal legislation into state statutes.