Suchergebnisse

The purpose of this study was to carefully measure Intimate Partner Abuse (IPA) behaviors among a large (n = 864 couples) sample of pairs of husbands and wives who were mandated to attend divorce mediation and then to: categorize the behaviors into theoretically‐driven types of IPA, determine the number of cases screened out of mediation for any reason, and investigate whether measured outcomes of mediation (primary physical and legal custody) were related to IPA. Results indicated that rarely was IPAnotreported—the most frequently reported IPA behavior was psychological abuse (98% of wives; 97% of husbands), followed by physical abuse (58% of wives; 54% of husbands), escalated physical abuse (62% of wives; 50% of husbands), and sexual intimidation, coercion and rape (56% of wives; 29% of husbands). Rarely were couples reporting IPA screened out of mediation (5%), and rarely were supervised parenting time or restrictions on contact between parents included in mediated agreements made by couples reporting IPA (6.5%). The overall level of IPA was unrelated to the specific terms of mediated agreements; however, by far the most frequent type of mediated agreement the couples' negotiated in mediation was for primary physical custody to go to the wife and for the husband and wife to have joint legal custody (59% of cases). Analysis of the implications of these findings and policy recommendations are included.

A large number of litigants in family court are proceeding without legal representation and placing a significant burden on court personnel and judges. It is unclear whether this trend toward self‐representation is also true for litigants in family mediation and whether these clients also place a significant burden on mediation programs. Given concerns about mediating with violent couples, another important question is whether the type of representation differs between nonviolent couples and couples experiencing intimate partner violence and/or abuse. This article is an exploratory study of litigants in mediation in Arizona and Indiana, two very different jurisdictions. We provide descriptive statistics concerning the types of representation of clients entering mediation in these jurisdictions and the number of sessions attended by attorney‐represented versus pro se clients. We also provide descriptive statistics concerning the levels and types of violence and/or abuse reported by pro se versus represented litigants. We then explore the relationship between representation, violence and abuse, and reaching agreement in mediation. Implications of the findings for mediation are considered.