TROXEL v. GRANVILLE

The author opines that litigating visitation disputes between parents and third parties is advisable only under limited circumstances, and that the emotional benefits to children that are derived from their interactions with members of their extended family are only realized when the relationships between the extended and the nuclear family are satisfactory.     

RESPONSE TO TROXEL v. GRANVILLE

In today's world, children grow up in families that take many different forms, and society can no longer consider the traditional nuclear family the normal or optimal family structure. As a result, in cases of divorce, courts are increasingly relying on the results of psychological research when awarding custody and visitation privileges. In contrast to recent trends, however, the U.S. Supreme Court's majority decision in Troxel v. Granville favors biological parents' rights over the psychological interests of children. This article discusses the potential contributions of attachment theory to the contest between biology and psychology in America's divorce courts.     

IN THE AFTERMATH OF TROXEL V. GRANVILLE

While the Court in Troxel v. Granville opines about the problems litigation creates, that of both expense and intrusion into the lives of families in the midst of grandparent visitation disputes, the Court decision falls short of posing a solution. The focus of this note is to propose a standard for mediation as a viable alternative to traditional litigation in such cases. The hope is that mediation will serve the best interests of the child.     

STATE SUPREME COURT APPLICATIONS OF TROXEL v. GRANVILLE AND THE COURTS' RELUCTANCE TO DECLARE GRANDPARENT VISITATION STATUTES UNCONSTITUTIONAL

In this article, the author reviews state supreme court applications of Troxel v. Granville , analyzing the impact of the decision on the courts' ongoing efforts to adjudicate visitation disputes between parents and grandparents. Set against a background of legislative recognition of grandparents' rights and judicial uncertainty regarding the appropriate role of nonparents in children's lives, Troxel reaffirmed the constitutional right of parents to direct their children's upbringing. The author argues that state supreme courts evaluating gradparent visitation statutes and seeking to enforce Troxel 's presumption in favor of parents should be more willing to strike down overly broad statutes. Such an approach would be a positive step toward addressing the excessive judicial discretion that the Troxel Court found so problematic, and would signal to state legislatures the need for statutes that both provide for the needs of children and protect parental rights.     

DIFFERENT EXPRESSIONS OF THERAPEUTIC JURISPRUDENCE IN THE SPANISH CRIMINAL PROSECUTION

The postulates of what is known as Therapeutic Jurisprudence seek to guide to a more humane, reinvigorating and resocializingjustice, and in the Spanish Legal System we can find different manifestations of itself. This paper aims to examine some of the manifestations of Therapeutic Jurisprudence in the Spanish criminal prosecution： adults and minors criminal mediation, the plea bargaining of the criminal offender and the attenuated pre-trial custody.     

THE RIDDLE OF TROXEL

This article addresses the United States Supreme Court case of Troxel v. Granville, which is unique for its attention to the changing face of the American family and the Court's willingness to venture into the troubled waters of family law. Troxel conflates standing with standards and muddies the lines between private and public, between therapeutic intervention and state coercion. The article attempts to unravel the challenge of Troxel, considering both the cases' significance and inflammatory potential, while also raising significant questions that will confound professionals for years to come.     

MUDDLING THROUGH THE MURKY WATERS OF TROXEL

A critical case in the area of third-party visitation rights was decided by the U. S. Supreme Court in July 2000 ( Troxel v. Granville ). A plurality in this case held that a Washington grandparent visitation statute was not facially unconstitutional but was as applied to the facts of that case. The author discusses the varying opinions of the Supreme Court justices in the Troxel decision. Next, he analyzes the plurality opinion to determine the appropriate standard of review in grandparent visitation cases. Following is a consideration of how the decision will affect other state grandparent visitation legislation. Examining these issues, the author concludes that future third-party visitation cases will be decided on a fact-specific, case-by-case basis.     

THE ECOLOGY OF GANG TERRITORIAL BOUNDARIES*

Within any type of system, the actors in the system inevitably compete over resources. With competition comes the possibility of conflict. To minimize such effects, actors often will partition the system into geographic territories. It is against the larger ecological backdrop of competition and conflict that we examine territory formation among urban street gangs. Although previous studies have examined the social and built environment where gangs form, and how the presence of a gang influences local levels of violence, we know little about how competitive interactions are tied to the formation and maintenance of gang territories. We use formal spatial Lotka–Volterra competition models to derive hypotheses about competition‐driven territory formation. By using data on 563 between‐gang shootings, involving 13 rival street gangs in the Hollenbeck Policing Division of Los Angeles, we show that violence strongly clusters along the boundaries between gangs in a way that is quantitatively predicted by the theory. The results suggest that even weak competitive interactions between gangs are sufficient to drive gang territory formation without recourse to other processes or assumptions.