Custody and Visitation in Families With Three (or More) Parents

New technological and legal developments have enabled the formation of three‐parent families. Now that these families have arrived, families—and family law—must adapt to allocate responsibilities among the responsible adults.     

High Conflict Divorce,Violence, and Abuse: Implications for Custody and Visitation Decisions

Today, judges are faced with the daunting task of determining the best interests of the child and making appropriate custody awards to that end. The best interests of children becomes a critical question when domestic violence is involved; yet, determining what constitutes domestic violence is often debated. Research is often divided on what constitutes domestic violence. One body of research focuses on conflict, another focuses on domestic violence. What the first group identifies as intense emotional distress and disagreement, the other identifies as abuse. Judges making custody determinations in such cases are faced with the difficult challenge of distinguishing between a divorce with “high conflict” and a domestic violence case with ongoing abuse. This article will summarize the legal, philosophical, and historical understandings of the “high conflict” family and its potential impact on children. It will also provide practical judicial guidelines for making the important distinction between high conflict and domestic violence and subsequently crafting appropriate and safe child custody awards.     

Children Exposed to Domestic Violence: Making Trauma‐Informed Custody and Visitation Decisions

This article explores the risks for young children and the challenges for courts that emerge when parents who are victims or perpetrators of intimate partner violence seek court decisions on child visitation or custody matters. We focus particularly on children age five and younger, a group that is disproportionately represented in families affected by intimate partner violence, and especially vulnerable to its traumatic impact. We examine the literature on children's response to violence between their parents and the literature on parental alienation, a counter‐charge that may arise when one parent alleges violence as a reason to limit the other parent's access to the children. We look at challenges faced by both mental health professionals and courts involved in custody determinations and make policy recommendations to help courts make trauma‐informed decisions that best serve children.     

Prison Visitation and Recidivism

Scholars and policymakers have called for greater attention to understanding the causes of and solutions to improved prisoner reentry outcomes, resulting in renewed attention to a factor—prison visitation—long believed to reduce recidivism. However, despite the theoretical arguments advanced on its behalf and increased calls for evidence-based policy, there remains little credible empirical research on whether a beneficial relationship between visitation and recidivism in fact exists. Against that backdrop, this study employs propensity score matching analyses to examine whether visitation of various types and in varying amounts, or “doses,” is in fact negatively associated with recidivism outcomes among a cohort of released prisoners. The analyses suggest that visitation has a small to modest effect in reducing recidivism of all types, especially property offending, and that the effects may be most pronounced for spouse or significant other visitation. We discuss the implications of the findings for research and policy.     

代为保管问题研究

代为保管是指非财物所有人基于一定的原因而处于自己事实上控制着的他人财物进行保管的行为。它有以下几个特点:第一,保管人对保管物没有所有权;第二,按所有权圆满性的要求,保管人对物有妥善保管的义务;第三,按所有权绝对性和排他性的要求,保管人有返还保管物于合法权利人之义务。因而,代为保管的本质是非财物所有人基于保管和返还他人之物的义务而对他人之物处于事实上的控制状态而非仅仅是法律上的支配。对他人之物处于事实上的控制不必基于合法原因。代为保管的归宿是保管人对返还处于其事实上控制的他人之物的义务具有民事义务和刑事义务的双重属性。     

我国羁押制度的法文化考察

史料表明，汉语中的“羁押”一词并非自古就有，是清末“西法东渐”的产物，具有特定的法律文化渊源，是现代羁押制度在我国确立的重要表现。我国清末“西法东渐”前的剥夺或完全限制人身自由的强制措施，因不具有以上法律文化渊源而不是现在意义上的羁押；新中国重建的所谓羁押制度，因不具有现代羁押制度的精神实质和核心而名存实亡。     

探望权及其相关问题研究

婚姻法修正案设立了探望权制度,填补了婚姻家庭制度的空白。法律规定,探望权是父母离婚 后,未取得直接抚养权父母的权利。但从探望权产生的法理基础父母子女关系即权利义务关系 分析,我们可以得知,探望权是非常态父母子女关系中存在的一项权利,不限于离婚父母;同时它 不仅是父母的权利也是父母的义务,即子女也有要求父母探望的权利。探望权制度应在坚持以 子女利益为重兼顾父母利益的原则下进一步完善。     

论羁押审查方式

羁押是法院作出生效有罪判决之前剥夺人身自由最严重的措施,关涉犯罪嫌疑人、被告人的基本权利,且与无罪推定原则存在高度紧张关系。因此,世界各国和地区大都对羁押采取严格的程序控制。羁押审查方式是羁押审查程序的基本构成要素。域外一般都采取听审或者讯问的方式进行羁押审查。我国的羁押审查采取何种形式,法律没有明确规定。最高人民检察院要求检察机关审查批准逮捕应当讯问嫌疑人,并听取辩护人的意见,但缺少诉讼化的程序保障,实践中难以切实维护犯罪嫌疑人的合法权益,保证羁押决定的程序公正。因此,应当借鉴域外的立法经验,结合我国的实际情况,从立法上明确我国的羁押审查应采取不公开的听审方式,并建立审查机关、申请机关和嫌疑人及其辩护人三方参与的羁押审查程序。