Carole Bell Ford

The Women of CourtWatch

Reforming a Corrupt Family Court System

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Houston was a terrible place to divorce or seek child custody in the 1980s and early 1990s. Family court judges routinely rendered verdicts that damaged the interests of women and children. In some especially shocking cases, they even granted custody to fathers who had been accused of molesting their own children. Yet despite persistent allegations of cronyism, incompetence, sexism, racism, bribery, and fraud, the judges wielded such political power and influence that removing them seemed all but impossible. The family court system was clearly broken, but there appeared to be no way to fix it. This book recounts the inspiring and courageous story of women activists who came together to oppose Houston's family court judges and whose political action committee, CourtWatch, played a crucial role in defeating five of the judges in the 1994 judicial election. Carole Bell Ford draws on extensive interviews with Florence Kusnetz, the attorney who led the reform effort, and other CourtWatch veterans, as well as news accounts, to provide a full history of the formation, struggles, and successes of a women's grassroots organization that overcame powerful political interests to improve Houston's family courts. More than just a local story, however, this history of CourtWatch provides a model that can be used by activists in other communities in which legal and social institutions have gone astray. It also honors the heroism of Florence Kusnetz, whose commitment to the Jewish concept of tikkun olam ("repairing and improving the world") brought her out of a comfortable retirement to fight for justice for women and children.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: University of Texas Press
• Seitenzahl: 256
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. September 2005
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 15mm
• Gewicht: 421g
• ISBN-13: 9780292709584
• ISBN-10: 0292709587
• Artikelnr.: 21861064

Autorenporträt

Carole Bell Ford is Professor Emerita of Education and Women's Studies at SUNY, Empire State College. She lives in New Paltz, New York.

Inhaltsangabe

1. Introduction
2. Part I
* 1. Before CourtWatch: A Broken System
* 2. Florence: A Woman in Two Worlds
* 3. Gender Bias and the Law: The Blind Maiden
* 4. Ethical Dilemmas: Practicing Family Law
3. Part II
* 5. Florence, Melanie, and Diana: "Housewives Dabbling in Politics"
* 6. The Election of 1994: "The Babes That Slew the Goliath"
* 7. Houston: After CourtWatch
4. Epilogue: Loose (Odds and) Ends
5. Appendix A. Notes on Gender Socialization
6. Appendix B. Justice for Children and Child Protective Services
7. Appendix C. Domestic Violence and Mediation
8. Appendix D. CourtWatch Protocol and Board Members
9. Appendix E. Attorneys for Negotiated Resolution and Collaborative Family
Law
10. Appendix F. Case Histories
11. Notes
12. References
13. Index