Denial of Family Violence in Court: An Empirical Analysis and Path Forward For Family Law
Date
2021
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Publisher
George Washington University
Abstract
Over the past 20-30 years a critical mass of research and social media has
described family courts in private custody litigation denying and punishing
of women’s and children’s abuse allegations, often with a custody reversal to
the alleged abuser.
In particular, the literature has condemned courts’ use of
the controversial concept of parental alienation to dismiss mothers’ abuse
allegations. This qualitative literature has been largely ignored or
marginalized by leading mainstream family law scholars and family court professionals. While the reasons for this marginalization are complex and
likely partially unintentional, this article is a call to bring family violence in
from the margins of judicial, policy and academic attention. The article
grounds that call in new empirical data from the first-ever quantitative
national analysis of family court practices - data which empirically validates
the reports and grievances of thousands of mothers and children in the United
States.
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Keywords
research, custody, family court, judicial policy
Citation
Meier, J. S. (2021). Denial of Family Violence in Court: An Empirical Analysis and Path Forward For Family Law. GWU Legal Studies Research Paper, (2021-12).