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- Title
Coercive Control Legislation: Using the Tort System to Empower Survivors of Domestic Violence.
- Authors
Garrett, Sarah M.
- Abstract
Over the last decade, anti-domestic violence scholars and activists have sought to recognize and punish a broad form of abuse in intimate partner relationships referred to as “coercive control.” Coercive control is characterized by any pattern of behavior that isolates, dominates, controls, or deprives the survivor of basic rights and liberty. Coercive control can, but need not, involve physical violence. Because the effects of coercive control are so devastating, several jurisdictions have taken steps to legislate against it, either by criminalizing the behavior or by including it in civil or family codes. This Note analyzes the various approaches to legislating against coercive control and ultimately recommends against criminalizing the behavior, as such efforts could cause backlash against survivors and are likely to disproportionately affect marginalized communities. As an alternative approach, in 2021, California amended section 6320 of its Family Code to include coercive control as grounds for a domestic violence restraining order and to provide survivors of coercive control with a rebuttable presumption of child custody in their favor in the event that they have children with their abuser. While Family Code section 6320 has taken important steps in addressing coercive control, this Note argues that further reform is needed. As a solution, I recommend amending California’s two domestic violence tort statutes to include coercive control as a cause of action, thereby allowing survivors of coercive control to sue their abusers in civil court.
- Subjects
DOMESTIC violence; LIBERTY; DOMESTIC relations; LEGISLATIVE amendments; PRESUMPTIONS (Law)
- Publication
California Law Review, 2023, Vol 111, p1601
- ISSN
0008-1221
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.15779/Z385H7BV60