Authors: Marieke Brock and Emma Buckthal

Publication: September 2018

This report, produced by the National Institute of Justice, aims to support law enforcement’s ability to understand and identify acts of gender-based violence in the United States that are rooted in cultural practice by providing a high-level historical perspective of these practices and the U.S. government’s response to them.

Author: Australian Red Cross

Publication: May, 2019

This report highlights the important role of communities and families in finding solutions to complex forms of harm such as forced marriage. The Australian Red Cross identifies pressures that lead to forced marriage, explores the inter-generation conflict inherent to many forced marriage cases, and lays out for broad strategies that communities use to negotiate and prevent forced marriage.

Authors: National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, and National Network for Youth

Publication: February, 2019

This report provides a state-by-state review of laws in 13 key issue areas affecting the lives of unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness. Topics include status offenses, emancipation statutes, health care access, consent and confidentiality statutes, and juvenile justice system statutes.

Author: Rachel L. Schuman

Publication: May 31, 2019

Laws allowing for child marriage have a long history in U.S. and common law, but are currently receiving increased scrutiny from advocates seeking to prevent the documented harms of early marriage. This article examines whether Congress could legally promote the implementation of a uniform marriage age across states using precedent set in South Dakota v. Dole. Read more.

Authors: Suzanne Petroni, Madhumita Das, & Susan M Sawyer

Publication: December 5, 2018

As many governments worldwide have raised the legal age of marriage to 18 years, some are also considering raising the age of sexual consent. Without close-in-age exemptions, arguments to align the legal age of sexual consent with that of marriage would restrict the ability of adolescents to legally have sex. The authors find that, because the consideration to marry and to have sex are very different, the minimum ages need not be aligned.