Controlling Your Partner Is Illegal In some countries, But What about the US?
This sort of nebulous, controlling behavior remains undefined mainly by the criminal justice system. Still, advocates know it as “coercive control,” a form of abuse that seeks to strip victims of autonomy and personhood. It can include behaviors like intimidation, surveillance, and isolation, which can be easily disguised from outside observers. The victim knows how it’s intended, as does the abuser, but from the perspective of those around them, including law enforcement, a rose appears to be just a rose.
The concept is beginning to gain more widespread awareness; the New York Times recently ran a feature about Congresswoman Cori Bush and singer FKA twigs, who have both spoken publicly about their experiences being controlled by their abusers. And some states have begun to recognize it in within their legal systems: Last year, both California and Hawaii passed anti–coercive control legislation: California’s law allows behaviors that constitute coercive control to be submitted as evidence in family courts, while Hawaii’s amends the state’s domestic violence statutes to account for it. Similar legislation that has been introduced in New York would classify coercive control as a felony punishable by up to four years in jail.
The criminal-justice system does little to protect survivors with laws that already exist; abusers are rarely convicted, and the lengthy legal processes survivors have to go through can be traumatizing in addition to fruitless. While on paper, coercive control laws may sound like a remedy to some of the gaps in the system, in effect they may only widen them, harming survivors and their communities in the process.
“It makes sense that there’s this attempt to capture a broader conceptualization of violence in the legal framework,” said Audacia Ray, the director of community organizing and public advocacy at the New York City Anti-Violence Project, which primarily serves the LGBTQ community. “However, we really believe that expansion — because it just expands criminalization — will just bring more harm.”
I Nikki Navarro have experienced every physical emotional, verbal, financial, sexual and every type of abuse
I survived a vicious beating, by my then husband, police justice merely issued a citation for breaking my nose, brain swelling, bruises etc. My perpetrator managed to get away after he was deported to Mexico, from where he arranged to barter with a relative to bring me across the Us-Mexico Border I was kidnapped at knifepoint in Mexico . I lived in captivity suffering horrendous abuse.
Trauma-The book is my full life bio graphy, the abuse did not stop after my escape. Currently I am advocating to empower Women on little known Coercive control.
Please do not miss my book in the works. Please follow my page, and social media sites you will learn about me, about how I refused to be beaten down. I learned to empower myself into the business world.
I have a relentless passion to empower Trauma survivors
We must continue to advocate at local, state, federal levels for Us laws to enact Coercive control
I call on stronger Women and therapists to empower a victim/s of domestic abuse, women and children and our most vulnerable society suffers, in reality any victim regardless of gender is at risk
A kind sympathetic word goes a long mile for Trauma survivors, join me each time you see a victim spread kindness, you never know a survivors journey a battle they often will not share, except by showing love. I am bold in my faith I desire to share my journey of healing, love heals I found it in my faith.
Mark my web page , book details in the works coming soon. My pain served a purpose I desire to share my pain to power journey. You will never be the same once you brush up with death as I have. Resilience is my strength- faith is my solid rock. Solidarity means much, support all trauma survivors. Follow my story it will shock you, one Woman’s fight for justice is not over.
Soon-
Nikki
Resources
2022 Americas Conference to End Coercive Control Save the Date – May 2022 Get online tickets
Coercive Control Justice Bill Tracker
https://www.theacecc.com/billtracker
A Call for Speakers
https://www.theacecc.com/call-for-speakers
https://www.theacecc.com/journal
Research
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1077801218816191
Media
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a5jx-f1cvo
A must Read Book by Evan Stark on Coercive Control
https://www.audible.com/pd/Coercive-Control-Audiobook/170522444X