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Vol. 73, No. 6, June 2000 |
 Previous
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Book Reviews
This Month's Featured Selections
The Scientific Basis of Child Custody Decisions
Edited by Robert M. Galatzer-Levy
& Louis Kraus
(New York, NY:
John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1999).
468 pgs. $85.
Reviewed by Victor Dana Brooks
Custody and physical placement cases are among the most difficult
handled by the courts. The results of the placement order cannot
be predicted, and yet the court has no choice but to make a decision.
Judges and lawyers with little relevant training outside the
law are asked to assess and make decisions based on testimony
of psychologists. The Scientific Basis of Child Custody Decisions
is intended to provide a "reliable reference that could
clarify thinking about the psychological issues in the case."
The editors, Robert M. Galatzer-Levy, M.D., of the Institute
for Psychoanalysis at the University of Chicago, and Louis Kraus,
M.D., of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department at Evanston
Hospital, gathered articles written by experts in several areas
of psychological study. Their goal is to provide an abstract
of currently accepted scientific thinking in the field. Each
chapter focuses on a different topic, beginning with legal and
ethical issues, and continuing through chapters that analyze
childhood and adolescent development and the effects of divorce
on that development. The book ends with chapters that address
special issues that are sometimes raised: remarriage, adopted
children, medically ill children, gay/lesbian relationships,
and high conflict divorces.
Since different authors wrote each chapter, the writing styles vary, but are accessible to the lay
person. Each chapter gives a clear statement of the knowledge
currently available, the conclusions that might be drawn from
that information, and, in most cases, what areas are as yet unexplored
or unproven. Each chapter is separately documented, giving sufficient
information for additional research. An advocate could easily
structure direct or cross examination of a psychologist based
on the information contained in the appropriate chapter. In summary,
this book is an excellent reference for practitioners who are
involved in child custody and physical placement disputes.
Victor Dana Brooks, Northeastern 1972,
practices with Brooks & Martel S.C., Sturgeon Bay.
The Limits of Privacy
By Amitai Etzioni
(Boulder, CO: Basic Books, 1999).
280 pgs. $17.50.
Reviewed by R. Michael Waterman
In an age when individuals demand more protection of their
private records, habits, and lifestyles, George Washington University
professor Amitai Etzioni's The Limits of Privacy
advances the notion that Americans' individualist sense
of unfettered privacy is detrimental to the common good. With
carefully limited rights of privacy, society would be a better
place to live.
The Limits of Privacy focuses on Etzioni's communitarian
thinking and social philosophy, which is premised on the notion
that a good society seeks a carefully crafted balance between
individual rights and social responsibilities. Etzioni applies
that societal model to five specific societal concerns -
HIV testing of infants, sex offender or "Megan's laws,"
computer encryption keys, government issued personal identification
cards, and medical record disclosures.
For each societal concern, Etzioni compiled an impressive amount of empirical data documenting the
nature and extent of particular societal ills and the political
efforts intended to alleviate them. According to Etzioni, individual
privacy often contributes to the cause of these social problems
and it too often inhibits efforts to cure the ills. For example,
valuable medical research data could be obtained from private
medical records, but an individual's privacy interest in
those medical records prohibits dissemination of the data. Similarly,
sophisticated computer encryption software allows terrorists,
organized crime members, and foreign spies to enjoy unfettered
communications and operations in this country, but government
authorities do not have the means to decode and decipher the
illicit communications. Etzioni suggests that by placing careful
limits on an individual's privacy, society as a whole will
benefit.
While The Limits of Privacy discusses some basic constitutional
issues that surround privacy, the book primarily focuses on public
policy and sociology. The Limits of Privacy is not a legal
resource, and most practitioners will find little use for this
book in their daily practices. Still, The Limits of Privacy
provides a unique and practical look at issues where social concerns
and individual privacy collide.
R. Michael Waterman, Hamline 1995, is
an attorney with Mudge Porter Lundeen & Seguin S.C., Hudson,
and adjunct professor of law at William Mitchell College of Law,
St. Paul, Minn.
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