The term "Circle of Trust" has been added to the legal lexicon,
courtesy of Prof. Ruby Andrew, JSM

Professor Ruby Andrew, JSM, has been with us as long as there's been an "us"—back to the earliest days of the Zero. Back before she was ever a professor. And we've always had a deep respect for this brilliant woman. So saying that our respect has been grown would be a lie—it never could have been any greater. But her latest accomplishment deserves formal recognition.

Professor Andrew was cited in the amicus brief in U.S. Supreme Court case Camreta v. Greene. The Attorneys General of 40 states joined in the brief, which argues that caseworkers investigating a report of child sexual abuse should not be required to obtain a warrant or parental consent before conducting an interview with the victim. Here's the citation:

It is therefore likely that many of the perpetrators also lived in the child's household. Like other forms of maltreatment in CPS cases, "[c]hild sexual abuse remains, in the overwhelming majority of cases, a crime perpetrated by members of the child's family and circle of trust." Ruby Andrew, Child Sexual Abuse and the State: Applying Critical Outsider Methodologies to Legislative Policymaking, 39 U.C. DAVIS L. REV. 1851, 1853 (2006).

Prof. Andrew's cited paper has been used to eliminate the incest-exception loopholes in California, Illinois, and New York—still more reasons to respect Prof. Andrew. In a world that obsesses about "stranger danger," she continues to refocus the conversation where it belongs: in the home, where most abuse occurs. We're proud to stand with her.