Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-qxdb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T17:18:27.159Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Family Law and Social Change: Judicial Views of Joint Custody, 1998–2011

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Julie E. Artis  and
Andrew V. Krebs
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Rapid changes in family life over the last forty years have led to substantial alterations in family law policy; specifically, most states now endorse joint custody arrangements for divorcing families. However, we know little about how lower court judges have embraced or resisted this change. We conducted in‐depth interviews with judges in twenty‐five Indiana jurisdictions in 1998 and 2011. Our findings suggest that judges' views of joint custody dramatically changed. Judges in Wave II indicated a strong preference for joint custody—a theme that was relatively absent in Wave I. The observed change in judicial preferences did not seem to be related to judicial replacement, gender, age, or political party affiliation. Although our conclusions are exploratory, we speculate that shifts in judicial views may be related to changing public mores of parenthood and, relatedly, Indiana's adoption of Parenting Time Guidelines in 2001.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , Summer 2015 , pp. 723 - 745
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Ackerman, Marc J., and Steffen, Linda J. 2001. Child Custody Evaluation Practices: A Survey of Family Law Judges. American Journal of Family Law 15:12–23.Google Scholar
Albiston, Catherine R., Maccoby, Eleanor E., and Mnookin, Robert H. 1990. Does Joint Legal Custody Matter? Stanford Law and Policy Review 2:167–179.Google Scholar
Allen, Douglas W., and Brinig, Margaret. 2011. Do Joint Parenting Laws Make Any Difference? Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 8 (2): 304–324.Google Scholar
Artis, Julie E. 2004. Judging the Best Interests of the Child: Judges' Accounts of the Tender Years Doctrine. Law and Society Review 38:769–806.Google Scholar
Brewster, Karen L., and Padavic, Irene. 2000. Change in Gender Ideology, 1977–1996: The Contributions of Intracohort Change and Population Turnover. Journal of Marriage and the Family 62 (2): 477–487.Google Scholar
Buchanan, Christy M., and Jahromi, Parissa L. 2008. A Psychological Perspective of Shared Custody Arrangements. Wake Forest Law Review 43:419–440.Google Scholar
Chambliss, William J. 1979. On Lawmaking. British Journal of Law and Society 6 (2): 149–171.Google Scholar
Chesler, Phyllis. 2011. Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody, 25th Anniversary Edition. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press.Google Scholar
Coltrane, Scott, and Hickman, Neal. 1992. The Rhetoric of Rights and Needs: Moral Discourse in the Reform of Child Custody and Child Support Laws. Social Problems 39 (4): 400–420.Google Scholar
Dahl, Robert A. 1957. Decision‐Making in a Democracy: The Supreme Court as a National Policy Maker. Journal of Public Law 6:279–295.Google Scholar
Daly, Kathleen. 1987. Discrimination in the Criminal Courts: Family, Gender, and the Problem of Equal Treatment. Social Forces 66 (1): 152–175.Google Scholar
Dannefer, Dale, and Uhlenberg, Peter. 1999. Paths of the Life Course: A Typology. In Handbook of Theories of Aging, ed. Bengtson, Vern L. and Schaie, K. Warner, 306–326. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Dror, Yehezkel. 1968. Public Policy Making Reexamined. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.Google Scholar
Elder, Glen H. Jr. 1973. On Linking Social Structure and Personality. American Behavioral Scientist 16:785–800.Google Scholar
Elrod, Linda D., and Dale, Milfred D. 2008. Paradigm Shifts and Pendulum Swings in Child Custody: The Interests of Children in the Balance. Family Law Quarterly 42 (3): 381–418.Google Scholar
Elrod, Linda D., Spector, Robert G., and Atkinson, Jeff. 1998. A Review of the Year in Family Law: Children's Issues Dominate. Family Law Quarterly 32:661–718.Google Scholar
Epstein, Lee, and Knight, Jack. 2013. Reconsidering Judicial Preferences. Annual Review of Political Science 16:11–31.Google Scholar
Felner, Robert D., Terre, Lisa, Primavera, Judith, Farber, Stephanie S., and Bishop, T. A. 1985. Child Custody: Practices and Perspectives of Legal Professionals. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology 14 (1): 27–34.Google Scholar
Firebaugh, Glenn, and Davis, Kenneth E. 1988. Trends in Antiblack Prejudice, 1972–1984: Region and Cohort Effects. American Journal of Sociology 94 (2): 251–272.Google Scholar
Fleming, Roy B., Nardulli, Peter F., and Einstein, James. 1992. The Craft of Justice: Politics and Work in Criminal Court Communities. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Galanter, Marc. 1974. Why the “Haves” Come Out Ahead: Speculation on the Limits of Legal Change. Law and Society Review 9 (1): 95–160.Google Scholar
Giles, Michael W., Blackstone, Bethany, and Vining, Richard L. Jr. 2008. The Supreme Court in American Democracy: Unraveling the Linkages Between Public Opinion and Judicial Decision Making. Journal of Politics 70 (2): 293–306.Google Scholar
Hathaway, Oona A. 2001. Path Dependence in the Law: The Course and Pattern of Legal Change in a Common Law System. Iowa Law Review 86:601–665.Google Scholar
Holmes, Oliver Wendell. 1897. The Path of the Law. Harvard Law Review 12:443–463.Google Scholar
Holtzman, Mellisa. 2006. Definitions of the Family as an Impetus for Legal Change in Custody Decision Making: Suggestions from an Empirical Case Study. Law & Social Inquiry 31 (1): 1–37.Google Scholar
Indiana Supreme Court. 2013. Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines. Drafted by the Domestic Relations Committee and adopted by the Board of the Judicial Conference of Indiana. Indianapolis, IN.Google Scholar
Indiana Supreme Court. 2014. ADR Program Basics. http://www.in.gov/judiciary/adr/2372.htm (accessed February 13, 2014).Google Scholar
Kline, Marsha, Tschann, Jeanne M., Johnson, Janet R., and Wallerstein, Judith S. 1989. Children's Adjustment in Joint and Sole Physical Custody Families. Developmental Psychology 25 (3): 430–438.Google Scholar
Koropeckyj‐Cox, Tanya, and Pendell, Gretchen. 2007. The Gender Gap in Attitudes About Childlessness in the United States. Journal of Marriage and Family 69 (4): 899–915.Google Scholar
Kritzer, Herbert M., Brace, Paul, Hall, Melinda Gann, and Boyea, Brent T. 2007. The Business of State Supreme Courts, Revisited. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 4 (2): 427–439.Google Scholar
Lee, Mo‐Yee. 2002. A Model of Children's Postdivorce Behavioral Adjustments in Maternal‐ and Dual‐Residence Arrangements. Journal of Family Issues 23 (5): 672–697.Google Scholar
Maccoby, Eleanor E., and Mnookin, Robert H., with Depner, Charlene E. and Peters, H. Elizabeth. 1992. Dividing the Child: Social and Legal Dilemmas of Custody. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Mason, Mary Ann. 1994. From Father's Property to Children's Rights: The History of Child Custody in the United States. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Mills, C. Wright. 1940. Situated Actions and Vocabularies of Motive. American Sociological Review 5 (6): 904–913.Google Scholar
Modell, John. 1989. Into One's Own: From Youth to Adulthood in the United States, 1920–1975. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Pearson, Jessica, Munson, Paul, and Thoennes, Nancy. 1982. Legal Change and Child Custody Awards. Journal of Family Issues 3 (1): 5–24.Google Scholar
Pearson, Jessica, and Ring, Maria A. Luchesi. 1983. Judicial Decision‐Making in Contested Custody Cases. Journal of Family Law 21:703–724.Google Scholar
Pearson, Jessica, and Thoennes, Nancy. 1988. Supporting Children After Divorce: The Influence of Custody on Support Levels and Payments. Family Law Quarterly 22:319–339.Google Scholar
Pound, Roscoe. 1910. Law in Books and Law in Action. American Law Review 44:12–36.Google Scholar
Reidy, Thomas J., Silver, Richard M., and Carlson, Alan. 1989. Child Custody Decisions: A Survey of Judges. Family Law Quarterly 13:75–87.Google Scholar
Rhoades, Helen. 2002. The “No Contact Mother”: Reconstructions of Motherhood in the Era of the “New Father.” International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 16 (1): 71–94.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, Gerald N. 2008. The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring about Social Change? 2nd ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Scott, Elizabeth, and Derdeyn, Andre. 1984. Rethinking Joint Custody. Ohio State Law Journal 45:455–462.Google Scholar
Scott, Marvin B., and Lyman, Stanford M. 1968. Accounts. American Sociological Review 33:46–62.Google Scholar
Selleck, Linda R., Draughn, Waddell P., and Buco, Steven M. 1989. Attitudes of Attorneys and Judges Toward Joint Custody and its Litigation. Journal of Divorce 12 (4): 103–116.Google Scholar
Seltzer, Judith A. 1998. Father by Law: Effects of Joint Legal Custody on Nonresident Fathers' Involvement with Children. Demography 35 (2): 135–146.Google Scholar
Skrentny, John D. 2006. Law and the American State. Annual Review of Sociology 32:213–244.Google Scholar
Stamps, Leighton E., Kunen, Seth, and Lawyer, Robert. 1996. Judicial Attitudes Regarding Custody and Visitation Issues. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage 25:23–37.Google Scholar
Stamps, Leighton E., Kunen, Seth, and Rock‐Facheux, Anita. 1997. Judges' Beliefs Dealing with Child Custody Decisions. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage 28:3–16.Google Scholar
Sweet, James A., Bumpass, Larry L., and Call, Vaughn. 1988. The Design and Content of the National Survey of Families and Households. Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin‐Madison, NSFH Working Paper 1.Google Scholar
Ulmer, Jeffrey T. 1994. Trial Judges in a Rural Court Community: Contexts, Organizational Relations, and Interaction Strategies. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 23:79–108.Google Scholar
Wallace, Sara R., and Koerner, Susan S. 2003. Influence of Child and Family Factors on Judicial Decisions in Contested Custody Cases. Family Relations 52 (2): 180–188.Google Scholar
Watson‐Duvall, Derelle. 2009. Indiana Statutes, Guidelines, and Case Law on Parenting Time and Visitation in Dissolution and Paternity Proceedings. The Derelle Watson‐Duvall Children's Law Center of Indiana. http://www.kidsvoicein.org/documents/2009/09_2009‐PT‐in‐diss‐&‐pat.pdf (accessed September 2009).Google Scholar
Wolchick, Sharlene A., Braver, Sanford L., and Sandler, Irwin N. 1985. Maternal Versus Joint Custody: Children's Postseparation Experiences and Adjustment. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology 14 (1): 5–10.Google Scholar
Zelizer, Viviana A. 1994. Pricing the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar

Cases Cited

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).Google Scholar
McGinley‐Ellis v. Ellis, 622 N.E.2d 213 (Ind. App. 1993).Google Scholar
Periquet‐Febres v. Febres, 659 N.E.2d 602 (Ind. App. 1995).Google Scholar
United States v. Windsor, 570 U.S. 12 (2013).Google Scholar

Statutes Cited

Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 25‐403 (West Supp. 1997).Google Scholar
Ind. Code Ann. § 31‐17‐2‐8 (1997).Google Scholar
Ind. Code Ann. § 31‐17‐2‐15 (1997).Google Scholar
Ind. Code Ann. § 33‐23‐6 (2004).Google Scholar
Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 208 § 31 (Law Co‐op Supp. 1997).Google Scholar
N.J. Stat. Ann. § 9:2‐4 (West 1997).Google Scholar