International Law as Remedy: When the State Breaches Child Protection Statutes

While legislative frameworks prescribe the legal obligations of the parents to protect and nurture their children, there is no equivalent legal framework requiring and sanctioning the conduct of agents of the state who act in loco parentis. In consequence some children continue to be “at risk” and may even be in greater danger once the state has intervened. This is a problem that is not confined to one or two countries, but a matter of global concern that touches most developed and developing nations alike. In this article I ask what remedies are available for addressing this perennial problem and suggest that one option is to use the existing human rights framework embodied in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC) which specifies the rights of children. I outline the reporting UN mechanisms and provide an example of how evidence and argument can be used as part of that reporting process with a view towards securing some of accountability.     

The Experience of Parents of Children in Care: The Human Rights Issue

There is a growing body of international literature about birth parents' negative experience of child protection services. This article reviews some of this literature and adds recent Australian materials to it. It is then argued that the over-reliance on “the best interest of the child” construct is the base from which these negative experiences emanate. The argument is that in adopting this construct parents' rights have been removed in favor of children's rights. This violates parents' human rights. Such an approach lacks balance, as human rights are inalienable and cannot be the exclusive property of only one party.     

Editorial

Most human services are still organized by clock-time and by the expectations created by layers of policy, bureaucracy, and material resources. These expectations often interfere with the ability of professionals to meet the needs of children and families. There are other ways of doing things that have long been known, even tried on a rare occasion. We should continue to promote these ideas, in the hope of better service to families.     

Correlates of Externalizing Behavior Symptoms Among Youth Within Two Impoverished,Urban Communities

This study examines whether risk factors associated with child externalizing behavior symptoms differ between two similar low-income, urban communities, using baseline parent data of 154 African American youth (ages 9–15) participating in the Collaborative HIV-Prevention and Adolescent Mental Health Project (CHAMP) family program. Separate multiple regression analyses of each city sample indicated that greater child externalizing symptoms were associated with increasing parenting hassles for New York families (n = 46), but greater parent mental health symptoms for participants in Chicago (n = 108). Understanding such distinctions between communities is an important first step toward tailoring services to unique community needs.     

Chapter 4: Social Learning Principals:

No abstract available for this article.     

Identifying Barriers to Permanency: The Recruitment,Selection, and Training of Resource Parents

Staff and resource parents in the public child welfare agency and private child care facilities were invited to participate in research in one state to examine the barriers surrounding resource parent recruitment, training and selection, and strategies for achieving more timely permanency. Issues identified included the need for a shared vision among all stakeholders and the need to focus more on developing public and private agency partnerships. Data-driven strategies were then designed to address identified barriers. This process can serve as an example of how systems may use solicited input from the field to develop interventions or modify casework practice in an attempt to improve child and family outcomes as needed.     

Violent Video Games as Exemplary Teachers: A Conceptual Analysis

This article presents conceptual and empirical analyses of several of the “best practices” of learning and instruction, and demonstrates how violent video games use them effectively to motivate learners to persevere in acquiring and mastering a number of skills, to navigate through complex problems and changing environments, and to experiment with different identities until success is achieved. These educational principles allow for the generation of several testable hypotheses, two of which are tested with samples of 430 elementary school children (mean age 10 years), 607 young adolescents (mean age 14 years), and 1,441 older adolescents (mean age 19 years). Participants were surveyed about their video game habits and their aggressive cognitions and behaviors. The first hypothesis is based on the principle that curricula that teach the same underlying concepts across contexts should have the highest transfer. Therefore, students who play multiple violent video games should be more likely to learn aggressive cognitions and behaviors than those who play fewer. The second hypothesis is based on the principle that long-term learning is improved the more practice is distributed across time. Therefore, students who play violent video games more frequently across time should be more likely to learn aggressive cognitions and behaviors than those who play the same types of games for equivalent amounts of time but less frequently. Both hypotheses were supported. We conclude by describing what educators can learn from the successful instructional and curriculum design features of video games.

Children and boxing in Thailand： Preserving national heritage vs. exploiting national future

Children involving in boxing were highlighted as a problem in the country report of Thailand to the UN committee on the rights of the child. At present, there are approximately more than 20,000 children under 15 years old practicing Thai boxing. This thesis is designed to test the hypothesis that it is essential to bring human rights-based approach into the notion of children boxing in Thailand in order to find the possible solutions over the child protection in boxing areas, and that banning is not the absolute solution to solve the child boxing problem but should be done by applying children rights and ＂the best interest of the child＂ to the amendment of the laws and its enforcement. The research methodology of this study is mixed of qualitative and quantitative. The samples survey comprised 400 Thai people randomly on the subject of public awareness of this issue. The observation part was conducted on the random method by visiting 6 boxing camps; 3 in Bangkok and the other 3 in Kalasin province （northeastern area） and 3 children boxing matches; 2 local boxing stadiums and 1 national boxing stadium. Based on data gathering, although it was found that children practicing boxing are proved as dangerous and considered as child labor, they can hardly be banned because people in the boxing business, including children themselves, sees it as a necessity to practice at the young age and as a mean to escape poverty. In addition, a number of public opinion saw this as a benefit to preserve national cultural heritage. Therefore, allowing children to continue professional boxing, the government and sport authorities must implementing child rights in the professional boxing context based on law enforcement. The principle of the best interest of the child, based on the Article 3 in the Convention of Children Rights, has to be applied. This study recommended for the emendation of the National Boxing Act 1999 to provide specific chapter concerning children＇s engagement in boxing as a separate section from adult boxers.     

警察行政执法中违法犯罪的心理之源及其防范

制度的不完善固然会导致某些民警违法乱纪,但心理因素的影响也是不容忽视的一个原因。总的来说,影响警察在行政执法过程中违法犯罪心理形成的主要因素有警察的社会角色、警察的职业文化、警察的应激心理和警察心理环境与不同意识层次的关系等方面。本文主要从社会心理因素和自身心理因素的角度来分析导致警察在行政执法过程中违法犯罪的心理原因,以求找出有效的防范措施。     

浅析犯罪现场重建与犯罪心理画像的整合

犯罪现场重建技术与犯罪心理画像技术发展迅速。其中,犯罪现场重建是对犯罪客观过程的整体构建,犯罪心理画像则可以看做对犯罪行为人主观精神状态及其个体特征的描述和再现。犯罪现场重建和犯罪心理画像各具优劣,目前不能相互替代,因此,在实际的侦查过程中必须将两者有机整合才能确保准确地刻画犯罪行为特征、动机特征和犯罪者的人身特征,从而为侦查活动服务。