From Madness to Mutiny: Why Mothers Are Running from the Family Courts -- and What Can Be Done about It (Northeastern Series on Gender, Crime, and Law) [Hardcover]

Amy Neustein (Author), Michael Lesher (Author)

Book Description

Series: Northeastern Series on Gender, Crime, and Law | Publication Date: April 13, 2005

A powerful expose of the family court system's prejudice against mothers trying to protect their sexually abused children.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is essential reading for any health or mental health professional or legal advocate for children."--Family Violence and Sexual Assault Bulletin

From Madness to Mutiny . . . is an emotionally tough but intellectually satisfying read; it is a volume that belongs on the bookshelf of every professional who deals with child custody and child abuse, from lawyers and judges to psychologists and social workers.--Journal of Child Custody

"There is extraordinary merit in the claims the authors make... [and] many of the reforms, suggested in the concluding three chapters, are worth consideration."--Law and Politics Book Review

"Unusually rich and detailed documentation . . . Amy Neustein and Michael Lesher have produced a searing and profoundly disturbing indictment of family courts in the United States . . . I commend Neustein and Lesher for their major contribution to this struggle." --Violence Against Women --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"This book is a must read for every feminist, especially mothers." (Helen Grieco, Executive Director, California National Organization of Women ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 316 pages
• Publisher: Northeastern; First Printing edition (April 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584654627
• ISBN-13: 978-1584654629
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,382,596 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Indictment of the Family Court System, June 13, 2005

By 

Jeremy H. Griffith - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From Madness to Mutiny: Why Mothers Are Running from the Family Courts -- and What Can Be Done about It (Northeastern Series on Gender, Crime, and Law) (Hardcover)

This is not light reading. Sociologist Neustein and attorney Lesher have written a shocking indictment of the U.S. Family Court system. After studying over a thousand cases, they find a clear pattern of abuse by the system itself, directed against sexually-abused children and the parents who try to protect them.

Many people are already stunned by the systemic abuse of children--and the coverups--revealed in the Catholic Church scandals. This one is a thousand times worse. It's not just a few bad eggs, it's the whole egg farm. All across the country, corrupt judges are handing sexually-assaulted children over to the very people who abused them, every day. It's a policy. They get away with it because they do it in secrecy, often calling the protective parent (usually the mother) "crazy" despite a total lack of evidence against them... and frequently in the face of strong, substantiated evidence against the abuser, which they ignore. Like the Church.

It's unbelievable. Yet it really is happening, maybe to someone you know. Neustein and Lesher document it thoroughly and calmly, in full academic form (with 30 pages of footnotes and 10 pages of references at the end). There is no "hysteria" here; the facts speak for themselves. Read it... then go out and change it. The last three chapters tell you how. Our children need us to restore integrity to the Family Courts.

Buy it now, while you still can. The first printing is almost sold out, and detractors from New York with their own special agendas are trying very hard to suppress it. Don't let them win.

16 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scandal in our Family Courts, June 19, 2005

By 

Barry Goldstein (Yonkers, New York USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: From Madness to Mutiny: Why Mothers Are Running from the Family Courts -- and What Can Be Done about It (Northeastern Series on Gender, Crime, and Law) (Hardcover)

Amy Neustein and Michael Lesher have written an important book which exposes a scandal in our family and divorce courts. It is a scandal that is well-known to victims and advocates trying to help them. The authors studied over 1000 cases in which alleged sexual abusers of children are granted custody and the protective mothers receive supervised visitation. They chronicle the kinds of mistakes which create such outrageous outcomes. The scandal has become so widespread because of the secrecy the courts promote and the blame the victim strategy so often encouraged in the courts. If you look at individual cases the abuser has successfully denigrated the protective mother so that a casual reader or journalist can believe that there was something wrong with the particular mother that created such an extreme outcome. When you study large numbers of cases as the authors have done, however, it becomes apparent that the fault is not with the mother but with the system. The same mistakes are made repeatedly by judges, lawyers, law guardians, mental health professionals, child protective workers and other players in the system. The authors' contribution is to help us see this pattern of abuse in the courts. The media have been willing to publicize individual cases but have failed in their obligation to expose the pattern. If the custody courts reformed their practices to stop making children live with abusers it would do more to reduce crime then every crime bill passed in our lifetime. This book shows the mistakes that are made that cause outrageous results. The same mistakes are made in other child abuse and domestic violence cases. There are thousands of these Custody-Visitation Scandal Cases throughout the country. This book is an important start to making the public aware of the scandal and the harm it causes. I hope the national media will end its timidity and go after this critical story.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Carolyn Wicker, January 26, 2006

By 

Carolyn Wicker (Soquel, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: From Madness to Mutiny: Why Mothers Are Running from the Family Courts -- and What Can Be Done about It (Northeastern Series on Gender, Crime, and Law) (Hardcover)

As the previous reviewer stated, I too have not read this book.....yet. I wish to comment to the 'unknown' reader that did not read this book. I did indeed do as they suggested and followed a google search and found the statement allegedly written by her daughter Sherry.

I could not, however, verify it was indeed written by her. The web site could have been written by anyone claiming to be her. Funny thing about the website that hosted this claim, it's a web site, badly organized I may add, that is pro-joint custody in the state of New Hampshire.

Amy did not enjoy joint custody.

Family courts all over the United States fall short in protecting our children everyday. This is a fact. My own son was not protected by the court system. There was no sexual abuse involved in my case, and no physical abuse, but there was emotional abuse involved that I could not protect my son from.

The family courts I sought relief from were of no help.

I will read this book. I will at that time decide whether this book has merit. I suggest you do the same.

I met Amy Neustein briefly, and didn't sense a woman 'seeking fame' as the badly presented un-authenticated statement of her daughter, "speaking out" claims.