Using Social Science to Inform the Law of Intestacy: The Case of Unmarried Committed Partners

Laws of intestate succession determine how the estate of a person who dies without a will is distributed. Researchers have struggled with the question of how to infer the donative intent of persons who die intestate. Based on an empirical study of unmarried committed partners, we compare the usefulness of two methods of social research for informing intestacy law: will studies and interviews with living persons about their preferences for estate distribution. The results indicate that for some groups of unmarried committed partners, will studies may not adequately reflect the extent to which intestate decedents wish their partner to share in their estate. In addition, the results demonstrate a close correspondence between respondents' actual wills, when they had them, and their distributive preferences on hypothetical scenarios. These findings are discussed as they relate to an examination of which sources of social scientific evidence are most useful in informing the law of intestacy.     

A MODEL FOR TELEPHONE MEDIATION

A unique mediation service using the telephone to help parents resolve conflicts over visitation ("access") is described. The program presented special advantages of low cost and high responsiveness to parents and their children and was designed to particularly benefit families that lacked the mobility or financial resources to participate in traditional face-to-face mediation. Because the service featured highly educated and experienced mediators and a child-focused, principle-based mediation approach, family members received reframing, refocusing, informative, and empathic assistance in understanding and dealing with their parenting disputes. Some 700 families and nearly 900 mediation cases were handled during the service's 19 months of operation, and some features of the families and the cases are described. Recommendations and directions for future research are included.     

AN EVALUATION OF SUPERVISED ACCESS III

Although supervised access has become a more frequently used option within the custody and access domain over the last 10 years, no empirical literature has examined supervised access from the standpoint of its effect on the legal system. As part of a large-scale evaluation of Ontorio's Supervised Access Pilot Project, the present study sought the perceptions of the legal community and the courts regarding supervised access centers. A total of 14 lawyers and 13 judges participated in semistructured telephone interviews concerning supervised access cases in general, the function and impact of the supervised access program in their community, and their satisfaction with and recommendations regarding the center. Both lawyers and judges expressed high levels of satisfaction with the centers and believed that their availability resulted in savings to the legal system and reductions in hostility and conflict between parents. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.     

What's Love Got To Do With It?: Perceptions of Marital Positivity in H-to-W Aggressive, Distressed, and Happy Marriages

Husbands' and wives' perceptions of positive relationship behaviors and interactions (e.g., caring gestures, reasons for staying married, frequency of positive communication) were assessed in a sample of maritally happy (H), maritally distressed but non-aggressive (D/NA), and maritally distressed and husband-to-wife physically aggressive (D/H-to-W) couples. As expected, the relationship positivity reports of the two groups of maritally distressed couples differed from the happily married couples. In addition, D/H-to-W spouses gave different reasons for staying married than did D/NA spouses (i.e., love versus family roles and commitments). Spouses in D/H-to-W aggressive marriages were also less likely to report using intimate language with their partner than were spouses in either of the other two groups. Few gender differences were found. Results underscore the importance of considering the role of love and intimacy in husband-to-wife aggressive and distressed marriages.     

The Associations Among Family-of-Origin Violence and Young Adults' Current Depressed, Hopeless, Suicidal, and Life-Threatening Behavior

The purpose of the current study was to determine if college students' retrospective reports of family-of-origin physical abuse were related to their current reports of depressed symptomology, hopelessness, and suicidal and life-threatening behavior. Consistent with hypotheses, abuse by a parent (physical and psychological) and physical perpetration toward a parent were associated with increased rates of suicidal and life-threatening behavior. Gender of the parent was also shown to be important as symptoms of depression were related to mother but not father victimization and perpetration. Contrary to expectation, witnessing parental spouse abuse was not associated with young adults' current symptoms of depression, hopelessness, and suicidal and life-threatening behavior. These findings were interpreted with regard to the intergenerational transmission of violence theory.     

Medicalized Metamorphosis: Biological Rehabilitation of Criminal Offenders

Critical Criminology - Convicted offenders who consent to medical treatment may secure a preferable sentence. They make these decisions within a hybrid medico-legal system that often views...