Same sex couples around the nation have continually fought for their right to marry and in thirty-six states they have been given that right. What same-sex couples did not think to fight for was the right to divorce. There has been a considerable lack of focus on one such issue often left out of the public discourse over marriage equality: determining parental rights for the purposes of child custody/visitation in the context of a homosexual relationship that has broken down. The choice to have a child in a same-sex couple, with the exception of adoption, usually only allows for one parent to serve as the biological parent to the child. These options include: surrogacy, in vitro fertilization, and artificial insemination. What that means is that it leaves the other parent as the nonlegal and nonbiological parent in which they would be given no rights to the child if the relationship were to dissolve. After looking at many cases in Florida, the courts place a significant emphasis on biology in determining child custody in dissolution of marriage or relationship proceedings. In this thesis, we offer solutions in order to allow same-sex couples the equal parental rights they deserve even when they are not the biological parent of the child. Florida statutes have not been updated to reflect the changes in the law such as the recognition of same-sex marriage and the right for same-sex couples to adopt. Although restrictions on adoption and same sex marriages have been found unconstitutional, the implications of these changes in the law regarding custody and parental rights have not changed. Once the proposed solutions have been adopted, same-sex couples will be able to dissolve their relationships and marriages without fear of losing the custody and/or visitation rights to their child while still applying the best interest of the child standard used in heterosexual dissolution of marriage cases.

No description available.

Data from 135 parents were used to explore and compare perceptions of process and outcome for court-ordered and voluntary participants in child custody/visitation mediation. Information from the Clients Assessment of Mediation Services (CAMS) is used to analyze six process and four outcome variables for male/female and agreement/no agreement groups. Data were reported on mediated agreements and reasons for termination of mediation prior to reaching agreement. The results of this study indicated voluntary mediation participants, more than court-ordered participants, were 1) emotionally satisfied with the agreement, 2) believed mediators were warm, sensitive, and Sympathetic, and 3) mediation improved their relationship with their (ex) spouse. Voluntary and court-ordered participants were similar on process variables of empowerment, adequacy of information, and mediator impartiality, and outcome variables of satisfaction with custody and adequacy of information about child issues. There were significant differences between court-ordered agreement/no agreement groups on the process variables of sensitive/effective mediator, empowerment, adequacy of information and focus on issues, and outcome variables of satisfaction with agreement, emotional satisfaction, satisfaction with custody and adequacy of information on child issues. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to better understand which components of available information are used by legal professionals when making a child custody recommendation decision in Virginia. / Master of Science

Yes / Custody images are a standard feature of everyday Policing and are commonly used during investigative work to establish whether the perpetrator and the suspect are the same. The process of identification relies heavily on the quality of a custody image because a low-quality image may mask identifying features. With an increased demand for high quality facial images and the requirement to integrate biometrics and machine vision technology to the field of face identification, this research presents an innovative image capture and biometric recording system called the Halo. Halo is a pioneering system which (1) uses machine vision cameras to capture high quality facial images from 8 planes of view (including CCTV simulated), (2) uses high quality video technology to record identification parades and, (3) records biometric data from the face by using a Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) based algorithm, which is a supervised machine learning technique. Results based on our preliminary experiments have concluded a 100% facial recognition rate for layer 34 within the VGG-Face model. These results are significant for the sector of forensic science, especially digital image capture and facial identification as they highlight the importance of image quality and demonstrates the complementing nature a robust machine learning algorithm has on an everyday Policing process.

- The issue of the concept of criminal custody The thesis provides a comprehensive overview of selected issues relating to criminal custody, one of the means of securing an accused person for the purposes of criminal proceedings and sentence execution, provided for in the Act on Criminal Procedure. After a concise introduction, the thesis examines the historical development of custody as regulated in the Act No. 141/1961 Coll., on Criminal Procedure. Limits of restricting personal liberty are then discussed from the viewpoint of the Czech Constitution and international commitments of the Czech Republic. The principle part of the thesis deals with material and formal custody law. It defines the term 'custody' and elaborates on the conditions of the imposition of custody, especially with regard to the particular grounds of custody. The section dealing with formal custody law is focused on the provisions regarding the decision process on custody, custody hearing, the examination of the existence of grounds of custody, the maximum duration of custody and the setting off a custody period against a term of imprisonment when the accused is found guilty. Due regard is also given to alternatives to custody, since the accused can only be deprived of personal liberty when the purpose of custody cannot be...

- The Issue of the Concept of Criminal Custody This diploma thesis deals with the instrument of criminal custody as a security instrument. This instrument is considered as quite controversial in view of the fact that it's usage means the conflict between the interest of the investigating authority to accomplish the purpose of prosecution and person's right to personal freedom guaranteed by the Charter of fundamental rights and freedoms while the accused has to be treated as innocent according to the principle of presumption of innocence. The goal of this diploma thesis is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current legislation of the instrument of custody and also of the problems connected with custody. The thesis is divided into seven chapters including the introduction and the ending chapter. The second chapter deals with the development of the custody legislation in history and major part of the chapter is focused on the Act's of criminal procedure from years 1873, 1950 and 1961. The third and the fourth chapter pay attention to the current legislation which is included in the Act of criminal procedure no. 141/1961 Coll. The third chapter extensively describes the meaning of the term of custody, custody reasons and the alternative instruments which the custody may be substituted with. The...

This study aims to provide a picture of how family administrators in Sweden describes mothers and fathers who are in a custody conflict and whether there is a difference in how they are portrayed. It is a qualitative content analysis of the custody investigation of 15 custody conflicts. This study is based on gender theory and social constructions. Previous research shows that there is a tendency among family law case workers to view the mother as the primary parent with the main responsibility to care for the child while the father is viewed as a supporting parent. On the other hand, research shows that verdicts in custody conflicts are based on factual reasons such as time spent with the child. Our study shows that although case workers may portray mothers and fathers differently in custody investigations, these descriptions of the parents can always be traced to on-topic reasons such as domestic violence or ability to care for the child. In cases were mothers and fathers are portrayed differently, it can be traced to differing discourses among case workers.

SAMMANFATTNING Studiens syfte var att undersöka om det förekommer könsdiskriminering mot fäder i vårdnadstvister. Frågeställningar och syften som användes var: (1) Att undersöka om könsdiskriminering mot pappor i vårdnadstvister existerar. (2) Om och hur pappor upplever ett könsdiskriminerande bemötande på familjerättsenheter. För att besvara frågeställningarna användes en mixad design bestående av en kvantitativ vinjettstudie och en kvalitativ analys av texter. Vinjettstudien riktades mot familjerättssekreterare inom socialtjänsten som i sitt yrke arbetar med frågor som hanterar vårdnad, boende och umgänge i vårdnadstvister mellan två vårdnadshavare. Inom den kvalitativa delen, annonserade författarna till studien efter fäders egna upplevelser av en vårdnadstvist. Annonseringen skedde på ett pappaforum på internet. Resultaten analyserades i ett mångdimensionellt perspektiv. Resultaten i vinjettstudien visade inte på diskriminering när respondenterna skulle göra riskbedömningar efter kön. Däremot hittades diskriminering mot fäder när respondenterna skulle bedöma vårdnad, boende och umgänge. Här bedömdes modern som den bäst lämpade trots att vårdnadshavarna hade identiska bakgrunder. I den kvalitativa tolkningen av fäders texter var det mest framträdande att de var övertygade om att deras biologiska kön var en belastning i en vårdnadstvist. / Gender discrimination against fathers in custody disputes? Does gender discrimination against men exist in custody disputes and, if so, how do the fathers perceive the treatment from social services? ABSTRACT The objective of the study was to examine whether gender discrimination against fathers exists in custody disputes. The issues and aims used were: (1) To examine whether gender discrimination against fathers exists in custody disputes. (2) If and how fathers perceive a gender discriminating treatment from family law departments. In order to answer the issues a mixed design consisting of a quantitative vignette study and a qualitative analysis of texts was used. The vignette study was directed towards social workers working within family law departments who handle issues regarding custody, residency and access in custody disputes between two guardians. Within the qualitative part, the authors advertised for fathers' personal experiences of a custody dispute. The announcement was made on a forum on the internet, especially aimed at fathers. The results were analysed through a multidimensional perspective. The results of the vignette study showed no evidence of discrimination regarding the respondents risk assessments based on gender. However, the study revealed discrimination against fathers when the respondents were to assess matters regarding custody, residency and access. Here the mother was deemed as the most suitable, despite the fact that the guardians had identical backgrounds. In the qualitative interpretation of texts written by fathers the most prominent was that they were convinced that their gender was a encumbrance in a custody dispute.

Diss. Göteborg : Göteborgs universitet, 2006. / Med sammanfattning på engelska.