Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

child’s legal and human right to family life and the child’s right to keep his or her identity. Acase study will be presented that illustrates the violation of these rights. The father was anAmerican and also a Swedish citizen, and the family had settled in the U.S. After the mother andthe couple’s three children, following a conflict, suddenly moved back to Sweden, a lower courtin Sweden awarded sole custody of the children to the father. However, the mother appealed herloss of custody and asked to have the court decision overruled, which was granted. The mothercontinued to influence the children to not want to see their father, or have any contact with himor any member of his family. In March 2009 the appeals court gave sole custody to this Swedishmother. Their address is now hidden.Compensating Uncertainty in Legal Decision Making in Child Sexual AbuseCasesKatarina Finnila, Abo Academy (katarina.finnila@elisanet.fi)This presentation will explore the effects of two pitfalls in legal decision making: compensatorypunishment (i.e. the uncertainty about guilt is compensated by a milder sentence) and theconviction paradox (i.e. the threshold for evidence is lower in aggravated crimes than simplecrimes), on child sexual abuse (CSA) sentences. The effect of experience and training ondecisions will also be examined. Four case materials in which the strength of the evidence wasmanipulated for simple and aggravated CSA were given to 64 judges, 82 law students and 99laymen. Participants were asked to decide on guilt or innocence and to report demographic data.Judges convicted more easily in simple than aggravated CSA cases when the evidence was weak.In the two other groups no support for the conviction paradox was found. Law students wouldhave given milder sentences for simple CSA with weak evidence than with strong evidence. Inthe other two groups, confirmation for the hypothesis of compensatory punishment was notfound. For aggravated child sexual abuse, no confirmation for the hypothesis of compensatorypunishment was found in any group. Training and experience affected sentences given, but didnot have an effect on the two decision making pitfalls.101. Legislation and the Effectiveness of Mental Health LawLegislative Style and Judicial Discretion: The Case of Guardianship LawLawrence Solan, Brooklyn Law School (larry.solan@brooklaw.edu) (718-780-0357)The criteria for appointment of a guardian, and the powers that the guardian will be given dependupon how a particular political entity balances respect for the individual’s right to autonomy onthe one hand, against society’s desire to protect those who cannot manage their own affairs, onthe other. In recent decades, the balance has tipped from concern about protection to concern246