How to Pass a Coercive Control Law in Your State

Many domestic violence victims say that physical violence was not the worst part of their abuse. They felt more harmed by isolation, monitoring and manipulation, as well as  verbal, financial, technological and sexual abuse. Abusers dominate their victims through these tactics, which together can be called coercive control. After separation, many abusers continue their coercive control by using the courts to track and torment their victims. This is called legal abuse or litigation abuse.

Worldwide, legislatures have enacted laws clarifying that coercive control is domestic violence. In the U.S., laws on coercive control are in civil not criminal codes, (with the exception of Hawaii, where coercive control is considered a petty misdemeanor). These coercive control laws primarily affect protective orders, divorce and child custody. These laws lead to criminal charges only when an abuser defies a protective order.

Where to Start When Trying to Get a Coercive Control Law Passed

Several states have laws against coercive control, understanding they keep victims and children safer. If you would like to help pass such a law in your state, the following tips may help. (These are based on the recent passage of coercive control laws in Massachusetts. Each state is a little different, and you will need to figure out the right process for your state).

1. Form a Small Leadership Team
   This should include people from diverse parts of the state and of various racial and cultural backgrounds. The team members should be prepared to work hard to establish goals, steps and a timeline. In Massachusetts, about eight people formed this core.
   
2. Build a State Coercive Control Legislation Coalition
   This can be composed of domestic abuse survivors, advocates and allies. The Massachusetts coalition was called TRAC (Together Rising Above Coercion). TRAC’s sole goal is to push for stronger policy protections against coercive control. Massachusetts’ TRAC consisted of: 

• 60+ domestic abuse agencies in Massachusetts
• Jane Doe Inc. (the Massachusetts Domestic Violence Coalition)
• Jane Does Well
• Mass Family Advocacy Coalition
• Massachusetts Law Reform Institute
• MA League of Women Voters
• Seven Hills Foundation
• Thousands of advocates, survivors and individual allies
• Smaller private foundations and agencies

3. Partner with Legislators
Your state domestic violence coalition can help you identify legislators who have sponsored bills related to domestic violence. Ideally you will have sponsors from both major parties, both the House and the Senate, and various regions in your state. 

4. Draft the Best Bill Possible 
You do not need to draft your bill from scratch. Examine the coercive control bills in other states. This article describes some of the most important elements to include. Legislators write the bills, but they tend to be grateful if your coalition does some of the legwork. Legislation requires compromise. Remember, it’s easier to improve a not-perfect bill once it has passed than to get a bill passed in the first place. 

5. Encourage Supportive Legislators to Sign on Fast
Figure out which legislators are most likely to sign on before you even start the awareness campaign. The perception that a group of legislators has already signed on builds credibility for the bill in the early stages. For more information, do an internet search on “How Laws Are Made” along with the name of your state. 

6. Build Awareness
Your bill will need to compete with hundreds or thousands of bills filed in each year’s legislative session. Only a small percentage will pass. You need to make sure your legislators (and their aides!) are aware of your bill, understand its importance and will work to make it law. In Massachusetts, coalition members and experts in the field held virtual and in-person training directed at advocates, survivors and the general public, a webinar that focused on the legislation, in-person training for legislators and their aides, and more.

7. Find Credible Allies to Provide Information
Knowledgeable attorneys, judges, scholars, advocates and survivors can provide information in a variety of ways.

8. Host Advocacy Days
In Massachusetts, Jane Doe Inc., the state’s domestic violence coalition, held two trainings for people to learn how to lobby their legislators most effectively, including how to give a three-minute pitch in favor of bills. TRAC and Jane Doe Inc. then held advocacy days involving dozens of volunteers who descended on the statehouse, wearing purple, meeting with legislators and their staff, and handing out literature. State and local media covered some of these events.

Advocacy Day in the Massachusetts Statehouse. Photo by Jane Doe Inc.

9. Consider a Book Drop
A private sponsor enabled Jane Doe Inc. to buy a copy of Invisible Chains, an accessible book on coercive control, for every Massachusetts legislator. TRAC scheduled the book drop on a Lobby Day with a big presence in the statehouse rotunda, invited press, and held meetings between constituents and individual legislators (or their staff) to advocate for the bill’s passage. Statehouse personnel commented that this was the first “book drop” that they knew of in Massachusetts history. As such, it made quite a splash.

TRAC Leaders and volunteers at the Statehouse preparing for the book drop. Credit: TRAC (Together Rising Above Coercion)

10. Be Continuously Active 
At least monthly, the TRAC coalition emailed its members with updates and sent articles to legislators. Where possible, TRAC linked these communications to special days such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Independence Day, and Domestic Violence Awareness Day. High-profile domestic violence homicides during this period called media attention to the campaign.

11. Reach Out to the Media
Coalition leaders and knowledgeable others made themselves available to speak about domestic violence and related topics. Jane Doe Inc. issued press releases. Coalition leaders and members, including survivors, frequently wrote letters to the editor and editorials in local newspapers in which they mentioned the coercive control bill. Members also participated in podcasts and posted on social media about their experiences with coercive control and the upcoming legislation.

12. Hold a Legislative Briefing
After sponsors filed the bill and before any hearings, TRAC scheduled a legislative briefing including a small number of coercive control experts, survivors and the bill’s lawmaker sponsors. The week before the briefing, TRAC assembled and delivered treat bags and coercive control literature to every lawmaker in the State House with an invitation to attend. TRAC provided light refreshments so legislators and their staff who attended would be comfortable enough to stay and listen. Lawmakers, staff and media outlets attended. The Statehouse News Service reported the briefing to news outlets nationwide through their newswire. Survivors around the state started joining TRAC in greater numbers.

13. Hold a Legislative Hearing
The judiciary committee held a hearing to determine if they were going to take action on several bills concerning domestic and sexual violence. Hundreds attended the hearing, both virtually and in person, and dozens provided testimony. Individuals told their stories of surviving coercive control. Several experts testified as well.

14. Define Your Message Clearly and Stick with It
The TRAC leadership decided that their main message was: “Coercive Control is the foundation of all forms of abuse.” This message provided a drumbeat that echoed through all the materials and events that TRAC sponsored.

15. Use Personal Stories and Data
TRAC used personal stories, told by survivors in our state, to illustrate the impact of coercive control on real lives, and how laws could help families. TRAC also used statistics and data on the links between coercive control and intimate partner homicide to drive home that coercive control is both common and potentially deadly

16. Make Links with Related Bills
At the time that the coercive control bill was proposed, Massachusetts was one of only two states that still had no law criminalizing the nonconsensual posting of sexual images (known as “revenge porn”). The Judicial Committee combined the bill on coercive control and the bill on revenge porn, as well as a bill enhancing education for young people about the dangers of sexting. The joining of these bills strengthened the entire bundle.

17. Be Creative!
In Massachusetts, people in several communities wrote to their Port Authorities. This led to bridges across the state being lit purple for Domestic Violence Awareness day. 

Zakin Bridge in Boston Lit Up In Purple for Domestic Violence Awareness Day. Credit: Jane Doe Inc.

Longfellow Bridge in Cambridge, MA., Lit Up In Purple for Domestic Violence Awareness Day. Credit: TRAC (Together Rising Above Coercion)

The Massachusetts law on coercive control was signed into law by Governor Maura Healey after two years of effort. Many bills return to the legislature year after year before passing—it can take decades. 

Credit: TRAC (Together Rising Above Coercion)

Massachusetts survivors and advocates are celebrating the passage of the coercive control bill, but we know we still have work to do. Judges, attorneys, other court personnel, mental health professionals, and child protection authorities all need to be educated about coercive control. That education will help prevent situations where domestic abusers use DARVO to claim that they are the victims rather than the perpetrators of domestic abuse. The work continues.