Volume 1, Number 3, 1978
This issue was based on the theme of “Children and the Courts.”
Articles
- Children in the Courts: A Selected Empirical Review – Katherine Catton
This article reviews the small body of empirical research relevant to five central issues concerning children in the court system. These consist of discretion in the court system, the child as participant in the hearing, legal representation, the use of expert social evaluation reports and alternative forms of processing. The author concludes that there is a visible need for and yet a regrettable lack of empirical data on the effects and effectiveness of processing children through the court.
- The Process of Psychiatric Work with the Juvenile Courts – George Awad & Clive Chamberlain
Psychiatric work with juvenile delinquents has decreased markedly in the past few decadse. Some of the possible reasons for this phenomenon are canvassed. It is felt that a clarification of the process of a psychiatrist's working with the Juvenile Courts is important. The process of working with an authority figure, that is, the judge, is discussed and some of the pitfalls of the judge-therapist relationship are explored. The issue of confidentialitity is also discussed: it is considered as essential in any psychiatric work, and a clear contract defining its scope is of great importance. Some situations are presented in which it is felt that collaboration between the therapist and the court produced better results than if there had been no court involvement.
- Recent Developments in Legal Representation of Children: A Growing Concern with the Concept of Capacity – Jeffrey S. Leon
This paper reviews recent legislation, judicial decisions and law reform commission proposals relating to the provision of independent legal representation for children in contested child custody, child welfare and delinquency proceedings. Emphasis is placed on the existing and potential confusion confronting lawyers in their efforts to assume an appropriate role, as "advocate", "guardian" or "amicus curiae". in representing children. It is suggested that possible clarification may be found in the creation of a system that structures lawyers' discretion by requiring them to attend to the actual capacity of the child to instruct legal counsel as the basis for assuming a particular representational stance. In this sense, actual capacity involves both the child's ability to communicate and the child's ability to formulate a competent decision on the matters in issue. An examination of empirical, clinical and speculative studies in the area of child development reveals a need for further study in order to facilitate translation of this knowledge into specific legal policies. On this basis, a tentative proposal is made to structure a system of legal representation for children in terms of rebuttable presumptions regarding a child's capacity to instruct counsel.
Book Reviews
- Ian F.G. Baxter and Mary A. Eberts, Eds., The Child and the Courts. Carswell Co. Ltd., Toronto; Sweet & Maxwell Ltd., London. 1978. – Graham Parker
- Simon R. Fodden, Ed., Canadian Family Law – Cases and Materials. Butterworth & Co. (Canada) Ltd., Toronto. 1977. – Myles F. McLellan
- Beatrice Gross and Ronald Gross, Eds., Children’s Rights Movement. Doubleday, New York. 1977. Kenneth Keniston and the Carnegie Council on Children: All Our Children. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York and London. 1977. – Jeffery Wilson
- Nigel Bruce and John Spencer: Face to Face with Families – A Report on the Children’s Panels in Scotland. Macdonald Publishers, Loanhead, Scotland. 1976. – Graham Parker