Child Maltreatment and the Law

Roger J.R. Levesque, J.D. (Columbia Law School), Ph.D. (Psychology, the University of Chicago), is professor of criminal justice at Indiana University and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. Prior to his current faculty position, he was Professor of Psychology and Law at the University of Arizona. Professor Levesque's research focuses on the legal regulation of families and the nature of children/adolescents' rights. In addition to having published numerous journal articles, Levesque is the author of eight books (and editor of one) dealing mainly with the nature family life and the laws that shape our intimate lives. His most recent text Adolescents, Media, and the Law was published by Oxford University Press in 2007. One of his other texts dealing with intersections between human development and the law, Not by Faith Alone: Religion, Law and Adolescence (New York University Press), won the Society for the Study of Adolescence 2004 best authored book award. He also is the author of the first (and still only) law case book, Child Maltreatment Law (Carolina Academic Press), which presents legal materials and related social science information to help readers understand the breadth and depth of legal responses to child maltreatment.

"Professor Levesque has written the book on child maltreatment that we have all been waiting for. Unlike other books in the field which primarily approach the subject from the perspective of one discipline---usually sociology, psychology, or law--it is relevantly multi- and interdisciplinary: child psychologists and social workers cannot hope to make real headway in child maltreatment prevention without considering the complex legal and political implications of their work, projects, and proposals, just as those who work with the law cannot hope to create or administer responsible and effective legal responses to the problem without understanding what children and families need to be successful. It is because Levesque has devoted his professional life to understanding the intricacies of these inevitable ties that he is able to produce this wonderful work that is at once a map through unfamiliar conceptual and practical territory and a blueprint for the development of appropriately sophisticated reform efforts. I recommend it to anyone who works in this field whatever their discipline and beyond that to anyone who cares about the success of child maltreatment prevention policies and programs." Doriane Lambelet Coleman, Professor of Law, Duke University School of Law "In a tightly written yet comprehensive volume, Professor Levesque has masterfully provided one of the most thoughtful analyses to date of modern American responses to child maltreatment. Levesque offers valuable insights to a broad range of readers, rendering the material accessible to those new to the field, and--for those with expertise in the area of child protection--shedding new light on the perennial and intransigent problems that plague our nation's approach to child welfare. Levesque adeptly blends legal, social scientific, and policy-oriented perspectives, challenging traditional assumptions, and delivering an original, provocative, and highly satisfying treatment of the subject matter, maintaining a nuanced and balanced stance from the first page to the last." Lois A. Weithorn, Hastings College of the Law, University of California

• Introduction: The Nature and Limits of Child Maltreatment Law.- The Increasingly Curious Response to Children's Harms.- The Legal Regulation of Family Life.- Families, Child Welfare, and the Constitution.- Suitable Families and Parents in Law.- Legal Responses to Child Maltreatment.- Defining Maltreatment and Permitting Startlingly Broad State Intervention.- Removing Children From Maltreating Families.- Enlisting Criminal Justice Systems in Child Protection.- Shifting Rules Regulating the Role of Expertise.- Returning to Child Welfare Law's Foundations.- Rethinking Laws Regulating Child Protection.