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FASTrack: Foundations of Academic Success Track

Chasity Caston, “The Fingerprint of Divorce Laws in Mississippi,” Annotated Bibliography

Chasity Caston is being recognized for her facility in analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing sources.  Her research is an example of how the work we do in our writing classes reaches across different disciplines. This project was inspired by a lecture Caston attended in her sociology course. Ultimately, Caston incorporated eight sources that encompassed interviews, news articles, and complex scholarly and legal documents.

Reflecting on the transfer of learning from her writing course to other courses, Caston explains:

 College is a learning process; therefore, there will be several strategies that [students] will learn from one class that they can use in another class. For example, my Writing 101 and 102 classes contributed to . . . my writing in my sociology class, history class, and so on. This involved a lot of analyzing, connecting, and evaluating. . . . In my sociology class, I took apart the theories to analyze how they would play a part in a particular situation. For example, I did my sociology research paper on incorporating the conflict theory into domestic violence.

Read an excerpt from “The Fingerprint of Divorce Laws,” Annotated Bibliography:

McGahan, Hilly and Ries, Brandi. “Understanding Domestic Violence.” Montana Lawyer, Vol.

40, no. 5, 2015 March, pp. 14-16.

[According to the authors,] domestic violence is not caused by drugs or alcohol; however, it is caused by the need of power and control over the victim. These abusers demonstrate violence regardless of drunkenness or soberness. Abusers are well-aware of their actions and their reasoning. . . . The article suggests that pop culture throughout the media can contribute to violent behaviors. . . . Children who are brought up in abusive homes are more likely to develop the same violent behaviors. Montana . . . had 112 deaths from 2000-2012 from domestic violence. It is recognized that the state does not consider domestic violence as serious as drunk driving. Children are involved in 60 percent of the domestic violence cases as well because the abuser usually takes out additional anger on the child.

The information provided is a major contribution to my essay due to its detailed explanations of what domestic violence really is and its effects on children. Because Mississippi recently did not consider domestic violence as a factor for divorce, I could use this article to elaborate on the negative outcomes on the children if they continuously witness their parents in a domestic dispute.

Schweitzer, Donald P. “Dealing with Domestic Violence during a Divorce.” Los Angeles Lawyer, Vol. 37, no. 8, 2014 November, pp. 11-13.

In this article, [Schweitzer] discusses the correct actions to take when encountering domestic violence in the process of a divorce. In California, when a violent act occurs, the family law attorney is obligated to meet with that client for counseling to inform the client of all outcomes of the accusations, involving child custody rights, fines, and incarceration. There are also different codes of evidence, which are the Civil and Family Codes and the Penal Code. The Penal Code only requires just enough evidence to label a dispute as domestic violence. Also in California, unlike some states, they rule the evidence as traumatic if the injury is visible. Some judges only consider an event as traumatic if the victim is in severe condition. In each case, family lawyers are put in place to protect the accused or victimized client from the harmful effects of a Domestic Violence Restraining Order, such as loss of employment.

This source could be valuable to someone who is not aware of the certain acts to take when involved in a domestic dispute in California. In addition, it could be best suited to clients who do not want to lose their jobs due to the placed restraining order. It also informs clients of their rights to protect themselves during these situations, if accused. Schweitzer is a licensed family law specialist in Pasadena, California. This source only touches on California, disregarding other states. This would not be advantageous to someone who does not live in this state.

This article could play a role for my argument essay because it allows me to compare laws and expectations of domestic violence in other states. It also urges me to examine the effects of these laws in states that do have laws compared with states that do not have these laws.