Judicial Conversations With Children in Parenting Disputes: The Views Of Australian Judges

In an article in the last issue of this Journal, we reportedon a study of parents' and children's views about whether theywould like judges to talk with children in chambers. This articlereports on a related study of the views of Australian judgesconcerning the issue. It explores the reasons that judges gavefor being opposed to or cautiously in favour of having conversationswith children before and after making their decisions. On thebasis of these views, and the views of the parents and childrendiscussed in the earlier article, we propose guidelines on whenand how judges should engage in ‘conversations’with children in chambers if they consider it appropriate todo so.     

Refugee repatriation during conflict: Protection and post-return assistance

This article reports on the findings of the International Study of Spontaneous Voluntary Repatriation, begun by the authors in 1986, and involving case studies on return to countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It discusses the lack of recognition in both policy and practice of the pervasiveness of refugee-induced repatriation, and of repatriation during conflict; and offers new assumptions regarding the pattern and process of contemporary repatriation and of refugee decision-making. Lastly, it examines some repatriation issues for the 1990s: fragile peace and tenuous security; protection of the voluntary nature of return; dealing with non-recognised entities; and post-return assistance, particularly the need to focus on rehabilitation before development and to provide refugee-centred aid.     

History of Abuse and Current Suicidal Ideation: Results from a Population Based Survey

The relationship between a history of physical or sexual abuse and current suicidal ideation was examined in the current study based on data from the Washington state 2002 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Out of the total sample of 4081, 1058 indicated they had experienced either physical or sexual abuse before the age of 18, 52 indicated they had experienced physical abuse in the past 12 months, and 210 indicated they had been forced to have sex since the age of 18. Additionally, 106 indicated they had seriously considered committing suicide in the past year. After controlling for such factors as age, gender, income, education, race, employment and marital status and the interactions between different abuse risk factors using multivariate logistic regression, results showed that a history of childhood physical (OR = 2.31, 95% CI = 1.364, 3.90) or sexual (OR = 2.72, 95% CI = 1.58, 4.67) abuse and adult physical (OR = 27.30, 95% CI = 11.64, 64.01) or sexual (OR = 5.87, 95% CI = 3.24, 10.63) abuse all were related to current suicidal ideation. Implications for future research are discussed.     

The sensitivity and specificity of the RSID™-saliva kit for the detection of human salivary amylase in the Forensic Science Laboratory,Dublin, Ireland

We demonstrate here that the RSID?-saliva test can be used as a test for human salivary α-amylase on samples routinely examined in forensic casework. We show that the RSID?-saliva test detects salivary α-amylase at lower concentrations than the Phadebas^® Quantitative test, that the RSID?-saliva test does not cross-react with forensically important human fluids and that the RSID?-saliva test can be successfully integrated into the whole swab semen extraction method.     

Mother Abuse: A Matter of Youth Justice,Child Welfare or Domestic Violence?

International evidence suggests that in advanced welfare states the abuse of parents, most particularly mothers, by their (most frequently male) adolescent children is increasingly prevalent. In the United Kingdom, however, child‐to‐mother abuse remains one of the most under‐acknowledged and under‐researched forms of family violence. Although it is an issue shrouded in silence, stigma, and shame, the authors' work in the youth justice sphere, focusing on interventions to deal with anti‐social behaviour, suggests that adolescent violence toward mothers is a topical and prevalent issue. We identify different ways of conceptualizing it in the policy realms of youth justice, child welfare, and domestic violence. The behaviour of both child/young person and mother is constructed in ways which inform the assignment of blame and responsibility. The paper highlights the silence that surrounds the issue in both the policy and wider academic spheres, hiding the failure of service providers to respond to this very destructive form of intimate interpersonal violence.     

PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES AND THEIR SEXUAL,REPRODUCTIVE, AND PARENTING RIGHTS: AN INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Despite important gains in human rights, persons with disabilities — and in particular women and girls with disabilities — continue to experience significant inequalities in the areas of sexual, reproductive, and parenting rights. Persons with disabilities are sterilized at alarming rates; have decreased access to reproductive health care services and information; and experience denial of parenthood. Precipitating these inequities are substantial and instantiated stereotypes of persons with disabilities as either asexual or unable to engage in sexual or reproductive activities, and as incapable of performing parental duties. The article begins with an overview of sexual, reproductive, and parenting rights regarding persons with disabilities. Because most formal adjudications of these related rights have centered on the issue of sterilization, the article analyzes commonly presented rationales used to justify these procedures over time and across jurisdictions. Next, the article examines the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the attendant obligations of States Parties regarding rights to personal integrity, access to reproductive health care services and information, parenting, and the exercise of legal capacity. Finally, the article highlights fundamental and complex issues requiring future research and consideration.     

The effects of different saturation levels of the Shifting Boundaries intervention on preventing adolescent relationship abuse and sexual harassment

Objectives

Prior research with the Shifting Boundaries (SB) prevention program suggests that it can prevent adolescent relationship abuse and sexual harassment. We assessed the relative impact of a combined set of SB classroom (SBC) and SB building (school-wide; SBS) interventions on adolescent relationship abuse and sexual harassment outcomes when the program is delivered to all three grades in a middle school (full saturation) compared to when only two or one of the three grades receive it.

Methods

We randomly assigned 23 middle schools (1,764 students) in New York City to varying saturation levels of SB: 6th grade only, 6th and 7th grade, or 6th, 7th, and 8th grade.

Results

Providing SB to only one grade level does just as well at preventing peer violence and adolescent relationship abuse as treating multiple grades. However, there was evidence that additional saturation led to sexual harassment reductions. Schools that delivered SB to 6th and 7th graders (compared to just 6th graders) reduced sexual harassment victimization 6 months post-treatment.

Conclusions

The results largely support a minimalist approach, in that SB may be effective in preventing peer violence and adolescent relationship abuse outcomes by delivery to one grade level. However, there is a need for more research to continue exploring the potential benefits of a saturated delivery of SB across all grades, building on our finding that 6th and 7th grade implementation of SB was more effective at reducing sexual harassment than 6th grade only implementation.