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14 San Diego L. Rev. 1155 (1976-1977)
Dependency Proceedings: What Standard of Proof - an Argument against the Standard of Clear and Convincing

handle is hein.journals/sanlr14 and id is 1165 raw text is: Comments

DEPENDENCY PROCEEDINGS: WHAT STANDARD
OF PROOF? AN ARGUMENT AGAINST THE
STANDARD OF CLEAR
AND CONVINCING
INTRODUCTION
American courts have traditionally been reluctant to intrude
upon the privacy and sanctity of the parent-child relationship.1
Numerous cases establish the right of parents to the care and
custody of their children.2   However, the state may abridge this
right to the extent necessary to protect both the interests of society
and those of the child.3 One very direct intrusion into the parent-
child relationship is the dependency proceeding.
1. See, e.g., In re Gutierrez, 47 Cal. App. 128, 130, 190 P. 200, 202 (1920):
We think it is only in instances where there is demonstrated incapacity
or something akin to criminal neglect that the law is justified in interfer-
ing with the natural relations of parent and child.
2. Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645, 651 (1972); Ginsberg v. New York,
390 U.S. 629, 639 (1968); Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 495 (1965)
(Goldberg, J., concurring); Armstrong v. Manzo, 380 U.S. 545, 550 (1965);
May v. Anderson, 345 U.S. 528, 533 (1953); Prince v. Massachusetts, 321
U.S. 158, 166 (1944); Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 518 (1925);
Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 399 (1923).
3. The degree of state intrusion into the parent-child relationship may
July 1977 Vol. 14 No. 5

1155

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