The Gender Paradigm in Family Court Processes: Re-balancing the Scales of Justice From Biased Social Science

Because of a reliance on women's shelter samples extrapolated to community or custody samples, both Jaffe, Johnston, Crooks, and Bala (2008 Jaffe , P. G. , Johnston , J. R. , Crooks , C. , & Bala , N. ( 2008 ). Toward a differentiated view of parenting plans . Family Court Review , 46 ( July ), 500 – 522 .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) and J. B. Kelly and Johnson (2008 Kelly , J. B. , & Johnson , M. P. ( 2008 ). Differentiation among types of intimate partner violence: Research update and implications for interventions . Family Court Review , 46 ( 3 ), 476 – 499 .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) have developed a misleading evaluative framework for custody assessors, one that maintains a focus exclusively on males as perpetrators of family violence to both their spouses and children. We present extensive research to challenge and contradict this gender paradigm framework. Since custody assessments typically involve conflicts between a male and a female, generic assumptions favoring either gender must be avoided if justice is to prevail. The gender paradigm sets a framework for evaluation that is inconsistent with social science studies, many of which are unreported by J. B. Kelly & Johnson and by Jaffe et al. The implications of the gender paradigm for custody assessment are discussed and a more balanced view, consistent with the research literature, is proposed.