Almost All Domestic Violence Is Preceded by Coercive Control. Proposed Massachusetts Laws Aim to Ad
(warning: very disturbing, graphic descriptions)
Almost All Domestic Violence Is Preceded by Coercive Control. Proposed Massachusetts Laws Aim to Address the Crisis
2/28/2023 by Carrie N. Baker
Thousands rally at Cambridge Commons in Cambridge, Mass., on Jan. 20, 2018, celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Women’s March. (Ryan McBride / AFP via Getty Images)
This article originally appeared in the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
On Jan. 17, Stoughton prosecutors charged Victor Carter with murdering Amber Buckner, who was stabbed 30 times. Police found her with the handle of a 4-inch knife protruding from her right temple. The next day, Quincey prosecutors charged Brian Walshe of Cohasset with brutally murdering his wife, Ana, then dismembering and discarding her body. Last year, there were 26 domestic violence-related homicides in Massachusetts—a more than 40 percent increase over the previous year. Most perpetrators were men; a majority of the victims were women.
To address this scourge, Massachusetts lawmakers have so far filed nearly 70 bills this year. One approach is to address coercive control—the attempt to dominate an intimate partner by subjecting them to psychological, sexual, technological or financial abuse.
“Almost all domestic homicides are preceded by coercive control,” said Lisa Fontes, a senior lecturer in interdisciplinary studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the author of Invisible Chains: Overcoming Coercive Control in Your Intimate Relationship. “In fact, coercive control is a better predictor of domestic homicide than previous violent assaults.”
Survivors of domestic violence and their advocates are organizing across the state of Massachusetts to pass new laws addressing coercive control. HD 1844 and SD 1975 would allow survivors to obtain a restraining order based on coercive control and technological abuse, including electronic monitoring or surveillance, non-consensual sharing of explicit images and impersonation on the internet.
“Physical violence is just one tool in an abuser’s tool box—along with intimidation, isolation, manipulation, and emotional, financial, legal and sexual abuse,” said Fontes. “This legislation is important because it enables Massachusetts victims of coercive control to seek protective orders based on the entire toolbox of coercive control. This is especially important where there either was not physical violence or where the physical violence has not been documented.” Examples of coercive control include isolating a spouse or partner from friends or relatives; repeatedly humiliating a partner or using degrading language or behaviors towards them; controlling, regulating or monitoring a partner’s activities, communications or finances; damaging property; threatening to abuse family pets; displaying a firearm in an intimidating manner; and threatening deportation. “Coercive control is devastating. It tears down the individuality and the centeredness of a person. It leaves them open to self-doubt and therefore makes it more difficult for them to leave an abusive situation,” said Jamie Sabino, deputy director of advocacy at the Mass Law Reform, a leading advocate for the legislation.
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Lisa Fontes will give a virtual presentation on coercive control on March 6 from 1-2:30 p.m. Register here (https://jdi.coalitionmanager.org/eventmanager/trainingevent/details/228).
https://msmagazine.com/2023/02/28/domestic-violence-coercive-control-massachusetts/
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