Sociological Due Process: How the Family Juvenile Court Systemically Violates Families' Constitutional Rights

Mon, February 10, 2020 at 457 Berkey Hall

Brittany Tucker, PhD student in Sociology, will present her dissertation proposal.

Committee members:
Brendan Mullan, Stephen Gasteyer, Steven Gold, Melanie Jacobs
(MSU College of Law; Dean )

Abstract:
This study focuses on the due process violations parents and children experience in the juvenile
family court. Through court observations and document review, I use the theory of access
and an intersectional framework to analyze who lacks access to due process in family juvenile
court, what violations are occurring, and who is committing the violations. Further, I use case
law and discourse analysis to examine emergency child removal before a 2012 change in Michigan
law and after. I conclude that child removal stakeholders must be held accountable for
their actions to maintain the court’s legitimate authority. It is imperative to first identify there
is a problem within the juvenile family court and acknowledge that the identified problems are
due to a long history of racial, gender, and class bias in the court.