Do no harm: an analysis of the legal and social consequences of child visitation determinations for incarcerated perpetrators of extreme acts of violence against women

Legal scholars and students of the law have expanded upon this reasoning to argue in support of incarcerated parents' interest in a continuing relationship with their children-specifically, an entitlement to prison visitation.6 Unlike the recognized parental liberty right in rearing one's child, a parent's right to visitation remains the subject of open debate.7 Courts have found that imprisonment alone is an insufficient basis upon which to deny a parent continued contact with his or her child.8 At the same time, courts also suggest that incarceration does not create an automatic right to visitation.9 While research suggests prison visitation can benefit parent-child bonding, which is essential to the healthy development of children,10 it also indicates that the nature of the parent-child bond is a significant factor to be considered in determining visitation rights.11 Childhood trauma associated with exposure to severe acts of violence against a parent12 and the way that exposure shapes bonding complicates this issue further.13 Regrettably, legal scholars have given little consideration to the nature of the crime for which a parent is incarcerated.14 Likewise, they have failed to consider how intimate partner violence affects parent-child bonding and ultimately, prison visitation determinations.15 In addition, a battered woman's right against state interference in the management of her children has garnered little attention in the debate over the visitation rights of incarcerated fathers.16 The presumption that parents "will make a child's interest 'their basic concern,'"17 does not apply to batterers because they tend to manipulate both their victims and the legal system in forcing visitation contrary to the best interest of their children.