Exploring Factors Which Lead to Successful Reunification in Domestic Violence Cases: Interviews with Caseworkers

This exploratory study investigated factors that Child Protective Service caseworkers believe lead to change for the domestic violence abuser and victim, and ultimately lead to success in terms of reunifying children who have been removed from their parents due to domestic violence. In-depth interviews with six caseworkers examined both successful reunification cases and unsuccessful reunification cases. The interview was structured around three areas of interest: services, the caseworker’s relationship with the parents, and social supports, in order to identify variables that may influence the family’s ability (or inability) to make the necessary changes for reunification with their children. Results revealed that successful reunifications took place within the families who fully engaged in services, admitted the issues within the family home, set clear boundaries with each other, and sought and maintained an appropriate support system. Implications for caseworkers involved with families experiencing domestic violence, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.     

'An Unqualified Human Good': E.P. Thompson and the Rule of Law

The late E.P. Thompson described himself as 'a historian in the Marxist tradition' But when he embraced the Rule of Law (in Whigs and Hunters , many of his colleagues on the left ostracized him as an apostate. This essay argues that Thompson's critics have largely misunderstood what he meant by the Rule of Law. His was a minimal and historical conception, which merely sought to distinguish states whose rulers had unfettered discretion from states whose rulers were constrained by legal rules, whatever their source and contents. Also, in contrast to other radical theorists, Thompson recognized that law would be a necessary institution in any complex society, no matter what its economic basis, to mediate social relations. The essay concludes with some thoughts about the relevancy of Thompson's conception of the Rule of Law for ongoing efforts to revitalize a more `radical liberalism'.     

Bureaucrats and Indians in a Contemporary Colonial Encounter

This article investigates the effects of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 in structuring an encounter over a decision about building a dam in central Arizona. From the vantage point of three groups with deepinvestments in the outcome of this decision, it analyzes how the interests and identities of these parties were transformed as a result of this encounter. In defining standing and the terms of relevance, in providing a political forum, and in requiring these groups to explain themselves to others, this law powerfully mediated the politics surrounding this controversial decision.