MEDIATION AND PARENTAL ALIENATION SYNDROME

Parental alienation syndrome (PAS), a term that originated in the mid-1980s, refers to a disturbance in which children are preoccupied with viewing one parent as all good and the other parent as all bad. Conscious or unconscious words and actions of custodial parents cause the child(ren) to align with them in rejection of noncustodial parents during divorce or custody disputes. Issues of concern for mediators include detection of PAS and an understanding of appropriate remedial plans that will allow the child to restore his or her relationship with the noncustodial parent .     

COMMENTARY ON KELLY AND JOHNSTON'S "THE ALIENATED CHILD: A REFORMULATION OF PARENTAL ALIENATION SYNDROME"

In a previous issue of this journal, Joan B. Kelly and Janet R. Johnston describe their reformulation of the parental alienation syndrome (PAS). Here, I present areas in which I agree with the authors and areas in which I disagree. Particular focus is placed on these PAS-related issues: the syndrome question, PAS versus parental alienation, the medical model, custodial transfer, gender bias, DSM-IV . empirical studies, and the misapplication of PAS.     

Collaborated Death: An Exploration of the Swiss Model of Assisted Suicide for Its Potential to Enhance Oversight and Demedicalize the Dying Process

Death, like many social problems, has become medicalized. In response to this medicalization, physician-assisted suicide (PAS) has emerged as one alternative among many at the end of life. And although the practice is currently legal in the states of Oregon and Washington, opponents still argue that PAS is unethical, is inconsistent with a physician's role, and cannot be effectively regulated. In comparison, Switzerland, like Oregon, permits PAS, but unlike Oregon, non-physicians and private organizations play a significant role in assisted death. Could the Swiss model be the answer? The following essay explores the Swiss model of assisted suicide for its potential to enhance the regulation of PAS, reduce physician involvement, and perhaps demedicalize the way we die.     

Proponents Bear the Burden of Proof

Richard Gardner claimed to be able to diagnose parental alienation among contentious parents disputing custody, and asserted that his "syndrome" is supported by scientific and legal authority. Despite influencing many custody proceedings, Gardner's ideas fail to meet even minimal scientific standards. The burden of proving any new hypothesis falls on its proponents, and given the complete absence of objective replication, parental alienation syndrome (PAS) must be viewed as nothing more than a hypothesis. The lack of clear guidance in the law allows concepts like PAS to gain temporary credibility, as judges look to mental health professionals for help in making decisions under the vague best interests standard.     

Detection of "uncommon" tranquillizers-sedatives during screening toxicological analysis

A 56-year-old man is discovered unconscious in a pool of blood in the kitchen of his house. According to findings, the man used a 22 long Rifle to fire 14 shots at his thorax with trajectories going from front to back, from right to left and on a nearly horizontal level. All the projectiles got into the left front side of his thorax and came out just under the back of his left armpit. One of them then got through his left arm and fractured his left humerus. According to the findings made on the premises and the position of the bloodstains, we think that man put his rifle against the wall, resting on a pipe. He fired, unloading two clips into his thorax. He had to handle the bolt of the rifle before each shot. To reload, he took the bullets which were on the nearby table on which blood marks can be seen. When reloading at a certain moment, he sat down in his armchair and when he wanted to stand up, he leaned on the armrests, on which blood marks can be seen. The last bullet was probably the one which went through his left arm, preventing him from keeping on shooting. His death, caused by a hypovolemical shock, was obviously very slow.     

LIFE AFTER DEATH: THE NEED TO ADDRESS THE LEGAL STATUS OF POSTHUMOUSLY CONCEIVED CHILDREN

The advance of reproductive technology, coupled with a legal system that cannot keep up, has had a detrimental effect on posthumously conceived children. There is controversy over whether a child conceived after the death of one parent, by way of reproductive technology, is considered a child of that parent for inheritance purposes. An overwhelming majority of state legislatures have not given consideration to the unique question that posthumously conceived children pose. Legislative inaction has forced state courts to apply antiquated laws in the midst of a technological revolution. The result: children are being denied inheritance rights to their deceased parent's estate solely because of the way they were conceived. This Note advocates that all children should be given the same rights and benefits regardless of how they are conceived. To accomplish that goal, this Note proposes a model state statute to be adopted in all states. The model statute deems a posthumously conceived child to be the child of his or her deceased parent, and thus entitled to inheritance rights, if 1) the posthumously conceived child was provided for by will, or 2) the deceased parent intended to be a parent; there is a genetic relationship between parent and child; the child is born within three years from the death of his or her deceased parent; and the child's best interest, balanced against the state's interests, exceeds the state's interest. The desired effect of the statute is to put posthumously conceived children on equal footing with naturally conceived children.     

"Insanity" in civil law

The issue of "insanity" is rarely alluded to in the area of civil law. As a consequence, the legal standard for insanity is not clearly understood by many psychiatrists. The standard derives from case law and is based upon statutory law in the criminal sector. A civil case will be presented where the question of "insanity" was raised. In this case an individual committed suicide and his insurance company refused to pay the beneficiaries of his life insurance policy based upon a provision in his policy that excluded payment in situations of suicide. His beneficiaries sued, claiming that the deceased was insane at the time of his suicide and therefore not responsible for his actions. The standard for insanity in New Jersey and the reasoning of the psychiatrists will be presented.     

The Limits of Emotivism. Some Remarks on Professor von Wright's Paper "Valuations"

According to the old tradition in ethical theory that Professor von Wright attempts to revive in his paper "Valuations," value judgments are to be viewed as nothing but expressions of approving or disapproving emotional attitudes. The present paper argues against this view on the grounds that (i) to have an emotional attitude towards an object o does not merely mean to express our liking or disliking of it, but to make a genuine (i.e., true or false) judgment about o ; and that (ii) this judgment, and not the emotional attitude o arises in us, is what we are justified to properly call a "value judgement."     

Validation of the Propensity for Abusiveness Scale in Diverse Male Populations

The Propensity for Abusiveness Scale (PAS; Dutton, 1995) was designed as a self-report perpetrator profile for intimate abusiveness. It was empirically validated through reports of abuse by intimate partners. The original PAS (Dutton, 1995) was given to 144 men in treatment for partner abuse and 44 demographically matched controls. It correlated significantly with partner reports of abusiveness and correctly classified men 82.2% of the time, as one standard deviation above or below the mean partners' report score for abusiveness. In the present study, the PAS was given to clinical outpatients, gay males, male college students, and a group of spousal assaulters. A criterion measure for abusiveness (the Psychological Maltreatment of Women Inventory; Tolman 1989, or the Psychological Maltreatment Inventory; Kasian & Painter, 1992) was collected from intimate partners. In all groups, the PAS correlated significantly with partners' reports of both physical and psychological abusiveness on subscales of the criterion measures: Dominance/Isolation and Emotional Abuse. For the college students and wife-assault groups, a new criterion measure was used: the Severity of Violence Against Women Scale. The PAS correlated significantly with partners' reports of threats and violence measured by this scale. The PAS appears to provide a nonreactive assessment instrument that is a strong predictor of intimate abusiveness across a variety of populations.     

Responsibility and Rights: Children and Their Parents in the Youth Justice System

Responsibility is one of the key themes to emerge from the reformsto the youth justice system that have taken place since 1998.Now, the child and his parents are responsible for the offendingbehaviour of the child. This article explores the nature ofchild and parental responsibility in the youth justice system.In particular it analyses the type of responsibility demandedof both child and parent, drawing on the work of Hart and Caneto provide a conceptual analysis of responsibility in youthjustice. It goes on to consider the impact on the rights ofthe child and his parent of the mechanisms used to require responsibilityfrom parents for their child's offending (such as parentingorders, bind-overs, and the payment of fines and compensation).It suggests that there has been a lack of conceptual clarityin government policy and that if the current scheme for demandingparental responsibility continues then better attention needsto be paid to the rights of both parent and child.     

Pro-bullying attitudes among incarcerated juvenile delinquents: Antisocial behavior,psychopathic tendencies and violent crime

The objective was to evaluate a new scale aimed at assessing antisocial attitudes, the Pro-bullying Attitude Scale (PAS), on a group of 259 voluntarily-recruited male juvenile delinquents from a juvenile correctional institution in Arkhangelsk, North-western Russia. Exploratory factor analysis gave a two-factor solution: Factor 1 denoted Callous/Dominance and Factor 2 denoted Manipulativeness/Impulsiveness. Subjects with complete data on PAS and Childhood Psychopathy Scale (CPS) (n = 171) were divided into extreme groups (first and fourth quartiles) according to their total scores on PAS and the two factor scores, respectively. The extreme groups of total PAS and PAS Factor 1 differed in CPS ratings and in violent behavior as assessed by the Antisocial Behavior Checklist (ABC). They also differed in the personality dimension Harm Avoidance as measured by use of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), and in delinquent and aggressive behavior as assessed by the Youth Self Report (YSR). The extreme groups of PAS Factor 2, in turn, differed in aggressive behavior as assessed by the YSR, and in the TCI scale Self-Directedness. When PAS was used as a continuous variable, total PAS and PAS Factor 1 (Callous/Dominance) were significantly positively related to registered violent crime. The possible usefulness of PAS in identifying high-risk individuals for bullying tendencies among incarcerated delinquents is discussed.     

'The good that is interred in their bones': are there property rights in the child?

Bone marrow donation between siblings is a common medical procedure. In some instances, the donor will be a young child incapable of providing either consent or assent, and the intervention is made lawful through the consent of the parent(s). Although a number of justifications have been formulated to cover this act with legitimacy, these fail to describe accurately the transaction that takes place. In the absence of the child authorising his parents to act as his proxy, it is unclear why parental consent is sufficient to permit the redistribution of his biological wealth. Instead, where the donor is such a young child, the whole procedure may be construed as the appropriation of bodily tissue from one unconsenting human and its conveyance to a third, albeit related, party. This paper argues that if the parentally authorised transfer of biological material from an unconsenting human to another is legally permissible, it must be on the basis of an implicitly acknowledged property right in the child.     

《三国演义》：政治道德与社会理想的崩溃

《三国演义》中将刘备塑造成宽厚、仁慈、爱民的贤君形象,以他为代表的蜀汉集团,坚持以民为本的政治主张,试图建立合乎政治道德、维护百姓利益的理想政权。但是,在建立蜀汉政权的过程中,刘备迫于现实利益的压力,为了政权本身,不断向现实妥协,离自己的理想越来越远,甚至将理想作为自己获得民心、夺取政权的手段。虽然刘备最终建立了属于自己的政权,但是却付出了放弃理想的代价。作品以刘备的人生历程展示了在封建时代,以民为本等合乎道德的政治主张,只能是一种无法实现的理想。     

Attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide: Effects of physician background,patient prognosis and patient mental health status

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate views toward physician-assisted suicide (PAS) as patient illness (terminal, not terminal), patient mental health (depressed, not depressed) and physician background (preoccupied, not preoccupied with death) are varied. Participants (N = 211) read a newspaper article and trial summary involving a PAS then gave their impressions of the patient, physician and PAS. Patient mental health did not affect decisions, but the preoccupied physician's testimony was seen as less believable (intent was seen as patient death, not an end of pain and suffering), and he was more likely to be seen as guilty than the non-preoccupied physician (reflected by both verdict and guilt level ratings). The terminal patient was seen as suffering more, wanting suicide more, and making a more rational decision to die than the non-terminal patient. Results are discussed in light of recent legal activity involving PAS.     

Parental Alienation Syndrome in Italian legal judgments: an exploratory study

The present study highlights the characteristics of separated families in Italy for whom Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) has been diagnosed during court custody evaluations. The study analyzed the psychological reports of 12 court-appointed expert evaluations of families for whom PAS had been diagnosed. Twelve evaluations that did not receive the PAS diagnosis served as a control group. A specific coding system was used for data analysis. The results indicated that the alienating parents were always the parents who had custody of the children. Children who were diagnosed with PAS were predominantly the only child in the family, had identity problems and manifested manipulative behavior. The consultant in these cases suggested individual psychotherapy for the children and recommended foster care to the Social Services agency.     

身份犯及其相关概念辨析

身份犯是指刑法规定的以行为人所具有的特定身份作为犯罪构成要件或量刑情节的犯罪。身份犯不同于亲手犯和不作为犯,身份犯是以犯罪主体是否具有特定身份为标准对犯罪进行分类的结果,亲手犯是根据实行行为是否可以和主体相分离而对犯罪所作的一种分类,不作为犯则是以实行行为的表现形式为标准划分的一类犯罪,三者既有区别,又有联系。     

严复译《法意》之法治思想探析

严复译《法意》,彰显了其以“治”为中心的政治问题意识。通过对《法意》的政治的翻译,向我们展示了他从治道到治制再到治术的关于“治”的思想脉络;通过把当时的中国社会形态、政治制度及其历史成因与西方社会作为对比,说明中国社会和政治的特点及其根源,进而为中国走上法治的道路指明方向。重读《法意》,将对我们理解经济全球化背景下中国法制的现代性问题产生新的启迪。     

Foreword: can Glucksberg survive Lawrence? Another look at the end of life and personal autonomy

In Washington v. Glucksberg, the Court declined to find a right to physician-assisted suicide ("PAS") in the Constitution. Not a single Justice dissented. One would expect such a ruling to be quite secure. But Lawrence v. Texas, holding that a state cannot make consensual homosexual conduct a crime, is not easy to reconcile with Glucksberg. Lawrence certainly takes a much more expansive view of substantive due process than did Glucksberg. It is conceivable that the five Justices who made up the Lawrence majority--all of whom still sit on the Court--might overrule Glucksberg. For various reasons, however, this seems improbable. Unlike the situation with respect to the pre-Lawrence era, Glucksberg does not stigmatize any politically vulnerable group. When there is no democratic defect in the political process, there is much to be said for courts deferring to reasonable legislative judgments. Moreover, unlike the developments preceding Lawrence, there has been no emerging awareness of a right or liberty to enlist the assistance of a physician in committing suicide. No state supreme court has found a right to PAS in its own state constitution. Nor, in the decade since Glucksberg, has any state legislature legalized PAS. And attempts have been made to do so in some twenty states. In addition, various considerations might cause a court to balk at constitutionalizing PAS for the terminally ill. Such a right is not easily cabined. If personal autonomy extends to the time and manner of one's death, why doesn't it also apply whenever a competent person believes that death is better than continued life? Once the right to PAS is grounded on self-determination or personal autonomy in controlling ones own life and death, it no longer seems plausible to limit it to the terminally ill. Why should people who have to endure pain, suffering, or indignity for a much longer time than the terminally ill (often defined as those with six months or less to live) be denied this right? The argument made by many proponents of PAS that the right to forgo medical treatment and the right to PAS are merely subcategories of the same broad right is not convincing. Most of the two million people who die every year in this country do so in hospitals and long-term care institutions and do so after a decision to forgo life-sustaining treatment has been made. If medical treatment could not be rejected, vast numbers of patients would be at the mercy of every technological advance. (For example, Nancy Cruzan could have been kept alive in her persistent vegetative state for thirty years.) Allowing a patient to die at some point is a practical condition upon the successful operation of medicine. The same can hardly be said of PAS.     

Trauma‐Informed Interventions in Parent–Child Contact Cases

Parent–child contact problems may arise in the context of high conflict separation/divorce dynamics between parents. In cases where there are parent–child contact problems and children resist or refuse contact with one of their parents, there may also be incidents of child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, or compromised parenting that can be experienced by a parent or child as traumatic. The circumstances around separation and/or post‐divorce often result in intense stress for families. In this paper we distinguish between the stressful circumstances that may arise as a result of high interparental conflict and pulls for alignment from a parent, and the real or perceived trauma as a factor which contributes to resistance or refusal of a child to have contact with a parent. Interventions to address both trauma responses and the resist‐refuse dynamics are differentiated and discussed. After screening and assessment, the intent is to treat trauma responses with short‐term, evidence‐based therapy, either before or concurrent with co‐parent and family intervention.     

Attitudes of people with disabilities toward physician-assisted suicide legislation: broadening the dialogue

This article presents the methods, findings, and implications of a participatory action research project that attempted to shed additional light on the debate over death with dignity (DWD) or physician-assisted suicide (PAS) legislation. In-depth, qualitative interviews with forty-five physically disabled residents of the San Francisco Bay Area, conducted by others with disabilities, revealed a wide breadth of opinions about and attitudes toward such legislation. For close to half of the participants, the desire for autonomy in making end-of-life decisions was a primary concern, yet fear that PAS legislation could violate this autonomy in various ways was a deep concern as well. Also reported were widespread accounts of disability-based discrimination and frequent expressions of fear about openly discussing positions that diverge from the official, publicly held opinions of disability leaders who oppose such legislation. The findings support those of a recent Harris poll demonstrating considerable diversity of opinion about PAS legislation among people with disabilities. The findings further suggest the need for additional research on the apparent disjunction between the diversity of attitudes held by those interviewed and the more unified position taken by many disability activists. Use of the study findings to promote greater dialogue within the community and to better position people with disabilities to take their place at the policy table also is discussed. In addition, the findings are seen as reinforcing the need for the public health community to become more engaged in this central ethical debate.