Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Contributors -- 1 Children, Social Science, and the Law -- A PREVIEW OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS -- Children's Rights, Their Capabilities, and Society's Responsibilities to Children -- Children and Family Change -- Juvenile Aggression and Juvenile Justice -- Children as Victims and Witnesses -- Conclusions and Future Directions -- References -- PART I CHILDREN'S RIGHTS, THEIR CAPABILITIES, AND SOCIETY'S RESPONSIBILITIES TO CHILDREN -- 2 The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 -- THE ROAD TO WELFARE REFORM -- THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY AND WORK OPPORTUNITY RECONCILIATION ACT -- POVERTY, WELFARE, AND CHILDREN -- IMPLICATIONS FOR CHILDREN: RECENT RESEARCH -- Poverty, Income, and Child Development -- Parent-Child Relationships -- Child Maltreatment -- Child Care -- Nonmarital Childbearing and Teen Parenting -- Child Support -- Supplemental Security Income -- Summary -- Survey of Program Dynamics -- National Survey of America's Families -- Welfare Reform and Children: A Three-City Study -- National Study of Low Income Child Care -- Child Care Under Welfare Reform -- Child Welfare Longitudinal Study -- Project on State-Level Child Outcomes -- Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project -- CONCLUSION -- References -- 3 Advocacy for Children's Rights -- TRENDS -- The Changing Nature of the American Family -- The Changing Nature of Social Institutions -- Devolution -- HISTORY OF CHILD ADVOCACY -- Legislative Advocacy -- Advocacy in the Courts -- FUTURE FRONTIERS FOR ADVOCACY -- The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: An International Consensus on Children's Rights -- The U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect's Blueprint for an Effective Child Protection Policy -- Children's Views of Their Rights.

Children's Subjective Understanding of Key Constructs -- Children's Evolving Capacitites -- Social Indicator Data -- Evaluation of Interventions -- CONCLUSIONS -- References -- 4 Children's Rights and Capacities -- A BRIEF HISTORICAL CONTEXT -- Nurturance and Self-Determination Rights and Children's Emergence as Persons -- CASE LAW ON CHILDREN'S RIGHTS -- Due Process Rights in Juvenile Justice -- Medical and Abortion Rights -- Rights Surrounding Mental Health Treatment -- Rights in School -- Participation and Protection Rights -- Inconsistency in the Extension of Rights to Children -- CHILDREN'S UNDERSTANDING OF THE LAW AND THEIR RIGHTS -- Children's Conceptualizations of Rights and the Legal System -- Children's Ability to Invoke or Protect Their Rights -- CHILDREN'S COMPETENCE TO MAKE LEGALLY RELEVANT DECISIONS -- Informed Consent and Competence -- Social Science Research on Children's Competence -- Conclusions, Limitations, and Future Directions for Research -- References -- 5 Children's Legal Representation in Civil Litigation -- HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF LEGAL REPRESENTATION FOR CHILDREN -- MODELS OF REPRESENTATION AND PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR REPRESENTING CHILDREN IN LEGAL SETTINGS -- Attorney Models -- Nonattorney Models -- ROLE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE IN ADVANCING KNOWLEDGE RELEVANT TO CHILDREN'S LEGAL REPRESENTATION -- CONCLUSION -- References -- PART II CHILDREN AND FAMILY CHANGE -- 6 Termination of Parental Rights to Free Children for Adoption -- BALANCING THE RIGHTS OF PARENTS, FAMILIES, AND CHILDREN -- THE LEGAL PROCESS OF TERMINATING PARENTAL RIGHTS -- Voluntary Termination of Parental Rights -- Involuntary Terminations -- Summary -- THE RELATION OF THE PROCESS AND TIMING OF TERMINATIONS TO CHILD OUTCOMES -- Characteristics of Protracted Termination Decisions -- Consequences of Protracted Termination Proceedings.

Evaluating the Stability of Reunification and Adoption -- Summary -- IMPLICATIONS FOR CHILD WELFARE POLICY AND PRACTICE -- CONCLUSIONS -- References -- 7 Child Custody Research at the Crossroads -- FAMILY REORGANIZATION AND CHILD OUTCOMES -- Individual Differences in Outcomes -- Risk Factors -- Protective Factors -- INCORPORATING RISK AND PROTECTIVE FACTORS INTO CUSTODY DECISIONS -- NEW DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH -- CONCLUSION -- References -- 8 Children of Lesbian and Gay Parents -- LEGAL STATUS OF LESBIAN AND GAY PARENTS AND THEIR CHILDREN -- Sodomy Laws -- Child Custody and Visitation by Lesbians and Gay Men -- Adoption and Foster Care -- Summary -- SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH ON LESBIAN AND GAY PARENTS AND THEIR CHILDREN -- Children of Divorced Lesbian and Gay Parents -- Research on Children Born to or Adopted by Lesbian Mothers -- Summary -- LEGAL AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS -- References -- PART III JUVENILE AGGRESSION AND JUVENILE JUSTICE -- 9 Juvenile Transfer to Adult Court -- HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF JUVENILE COURT LAW AND POLICY -- MECHANISMS FOR TRANSFER: HOW JUVENILES GET TO CRIMINAL COURT -- THE NEED FOR A STANDARD FOR TRANSFERRING YOUTH TO ADULT COURT -- DANGEROUSNESS AND TRANSFER TO ADULT COURT -- SOPHISTICATION-MATURITY AND TRANSFER TO ADULT COURT -- Sophistication-Maturity: Pursuing Construct Clarity -- Research on Sophistication-Maturity: Why Most Juveniles Would Not Meet the Threshold -- AMENABILITY TO TREATMENT AND TRANSFER TO ADULT COURT -- Degree of Disturbance and Type of Disorder -- Family Factors and Amenability to Treatment -- Protective Factors and Amenability to Treatment -- CONCLUDING REMARKS -- Reverse the Current Trend to Make Juvenile Courts Increasingly Adversarial and Return to the Parens Patriae Philosophy -- Reverse the Ease with Which Youth Can Be Transferred to Adult Courts: Individualized Assessment Remains Key.

Develop More Sophisticated Programs to Improve Socialization in Youth -- References -- 10 Youth Violence -- DEFINITIONAL ISSUES -- PREDICTORS OF VIOLENCE -- Macrosystem/Exosystem Factors -- Microsystem Factors -- Individual Level Factors -- DEVELOPMENTAL TRAJECTORIES OF VIOLENCE AND AGGRESSION -- PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION -- Prevention Strategies -- Treatment -- Issues in Program Evaluation and Special Considerations of Urban Youth -- Prediction of Youth Violence -- Amenability to Treatment -- Criminal Responsibility and Culpability -- CONCLUSIONS -- References -- 11 Capacity, Competence, and the Juvenile Defendant -- EXPECTATIONS OF JUVENILE DEFENDANTS -- Knowing, Voluntary, and Intelligent: The Miranda Waiver -- Understanding, Reasoning, and Appreciation: Adjudicative Competence -- Participating Effectively as a Defendant -- EVALUATING JUVENILE CAPACITIES USING ADULT STANDARDS -- Miranda Waivers -- Competence to Stand Trial -- CONSIDERING THE IMPACT OF DEVELOPMENT: COMPETENCE AND JUDGMENT -- Adolescent Judgment -- An Empirical Study of Judgment and Competence -- CONSIDERING CONTEXT: PARENTS AND ATTORNEYS -- Parents -- Attorneys -- IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH AND POLICY -- References -- PART IV CHILDREN AS VICTIMS AND WITNESSES -- 12 The Effects of Community Violence on Children and Adolescents -- EXPOSURE TO CRIME AND VIOLENCE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS REACTIONS -- INTERVENTIONS FOR YOUTHS' DISTRESS REACTIONS FOLLOWING EXPOSURE TO CRIME AND VIOLENCE -- Exposure-Based Exercises -- Coping Skills Enhancement -- Social Support Availability and Utilization Enhancement -- IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL POLICY -- Treatment and Prevention Interventions for Youth Who Have Been Exposed to Community Violence -- Treatment and Prevention Interventions for Violent Behavior -- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION -- References.

13 Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect -- PREVENTING CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT -- Home Visitation -- Other Programs -- Challenges to Community-Based Intervention Programs -- PREVENTING CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE -- School-Based Prevention Programs -- Community-Based Prevention Programs -- Perpetrator-Focused Programs -- Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification Laws. -- Mandated Reporting -- CONCLUSION -- References -- 14 Children's Eyewitness Memory -- DISCLOSURE OF ABUSE -- The Process of Children's Disclosure -- Developmental Factors -- Characteristics of the Abuse -- Parents' Questioning and Reports of Children's Disclosures -- Summary and Implications -- TRAUMA AND MEMORY -- Research on Stress and Memory -- Abuse and Memory -- Abused Children's Memory for Nonabusive Experiences -- CHILDREN'S FALSE REPORTS -- Repeated Suggestions and Interviewer Bias -- Critique of False Memory Research -- Summary and Implications -- FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR RESEARCH AND LEGAL TRENDS -- Legal Trends -- Research Trends -- CONCLUSION -- References -- 15 Expert Testimony on the Suggestibility of Children -- THE RULE AGAINST INVADING THE PROVINCE OF THE JURY TO ASSESS CREDIBILITY -- Limitations on the Rule Against Invading the Province of the Jury to Assess Credibility -- THE RULE AGAINST TELLING THE JURY WHAT THEY ALREADY KNOW -- Limitations on the Rule against Telling the Jury What They Already Know -- THE RULE THAT EXPERT TESTIMONY BE SCIENTIFICALLY VALID -- THE RULE THAT EXPERT TESTIMONY FITS THE FACTS OF THE CASE -- Limitations on the Rule That Expert Testimony Be Scientifically Valid and Fit the Facts of the Case -- CONCLUSION -- References -- 16 The Status of Evidentiary and Procedural Innovations in Child Abuse Proceedings -- EVIDENTIARY AND PROCEDURAL INNOVATIONS IN CHILD ABUSE PROCEEDINGS.

What Alternatives to Traditional Testimony Exist for Children in the United States?.