Forensic Psychology; Guardians ad Litem; Therapeutic Jurisprudence


The sociological and psychological research on families and child well-being impacts public policy and the issues of child custody in family law. The research frequently is misrepresented, and mis-cited by mental health professionals, lawyers, forensic psychologists and others, as well as interest groups lobbying for laws. Also review the sections pertaining to the issues impacted by the "therapeutic jurisprudence", such as child custody, parental alienation theory, research pertaining to child development, the subsection for research Myths and Facts in FAMILY LAW, and other family law issues. Also see the subsection on Child Custody in FAMILY LAW. The Therapeutic Jurisprudence index page contains links to recommended off-site locations as well as the on-site articles

  • Index: Therapeutic Jurisprudence
    This section of the website contains current public material from on-going research being conducted around the United States and in Canada by various scholars and organizations who are sharing findings, as well as links to articles and off-site locations on the issue of the harmful use of psychology and psychological theories in the family court systems. Therapeutic jurisprudence in the family courts, i.e. a "mental health approach to the law" substitutes the opinions of mental health practitioners for traditional evidence and decision-making procedures. Because these persons actually do not have any kind of "expertise" to opine this way, what originally was thought to be a helpful idea (in this medicalized and psychologized world) has become merely economic opportunism, harming not only the litigants and children in the system as well as the court system itself, but also perverting substantive and procedural law. It is not science, but compensated yenta-ism that has permeated the courts under the pretexts that engineering family affectional relationships is within the ability of mental health "science" practitioners to accomplish, and that this is an appropriate goal of the government, court system, and state police power because children "need" something it has to offer. See additional comments on this index page here. If you are interested in activism, helping with research in your state, or contributing articles or materials on "therapeutic jurisprudence" contact cce-research@argate.net

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  • Are Psychologists Hiding Evidence? A Need for Reform by Lees-Haley and Courtney SCHOLAR
  • Child Custody Evaluations and Measuring Attachment (limited science) by Jean Mercer 2009 PDF SCHOLAR
  • Child sex abuse, the limits of Loftus, and overblowing the memory research LIZNOTES, CITES
  • Children's Associational Rights: Why less is more by Emily Buss PDF SCHOLAR
  • Collaborative Law: What's Wrong with Multidisciplinary Practice? by liz
  • Court-appointed Parenting Evaluators: The Case for Abolition by Margaret Dore PDF SCHOLAR
  • Custody evaluators' arguments about test records -- and why they're wrong
  • Custody Evaluations: Ten Signs of Questionable Practices by Joel V. Klass, M.D. SCHOLAR
  • Disciplining Divorcing Parents: Social Construction of Parental Alienation by F. Besset PDF SCHOLAR
  • Family Court is Not a Family-Friendly Place by Lisa Marie Macci, Esq.
  • Guardians ad Litem in Custody Litigation: The Case for Abolition by Richard Ducote PDF SCHOLAR
  • Parental Alienation Syndrome -- getting it wrong in child custody cases by Carol S. Bruch PDF SCHOLAR
  • Parenting Coordination Issues by liz
  • Psychiatric experts assess parental alienation by David Crary
  • Psychology in Court: A Trial Within a Trial by liz
  • Psychology in Court: The Detectives by liz
  • Psychology in Court:The Diagnosticians by liz
  • Psychology in Court: Discovery of Test Data by liz
  • Psychology in Court: How to Respond to the MMPI-2 by liz
  • Reevaluating the Evaluators (overview of the problem) by liz CITATIONS TO RESEARCH
    Custody Evaluator Quotes by liz (companion to above article)
  • Signs of a Bad Custody Evaluation by Joel V. Klass, M.D. SCHOLAR
  • Socialization, Personality Development, and the Child's Environments by Judith Rich Harris SCHOLAR
  • Sound Research or Wishful Thinking in Custody Cases? by Carol S. Bruch PDF SCHOLAR
  • Troubling Admission of Supervised Visitation Records in Court by Stern/Oehme PDF SCHOLAR
  • What Does the Guardian ad Litem do in Family Court? by liz
  • Warren Farrell Does a Custody Evaluation by liz
  • What's Wrong with Parenting Coordination by liz
  • Why "Therapeutic Jurisprudence" Must Be Eliminated From Our Family Courts by liz
  • Why "Therapeutic Jurisprudence" Must Be Eliminated From Our Courts by liz (pub. version)
  • Critical Assessment of Child Custody Evaluations by Emery, Otto, Donohue off-site PDF SCHOLAR