Maine expands definition of domestic abuse
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Jane* was the breadwinner of the family, but her husband obsessively monitored their finances. Every week, he made her present a ledger of their income and expenses. If something was not to his liking, he would subject Jane to a furious tantrum or days of the silent treatment.
For years, Jane tried to make sense of his behavior.
“Because he didn’t ever hit me with his fists, I tried to rationalize that he wasn’t abusing me.”
Now, under a recent change to Maine law, Jane might now be more clearly considered a victim of coercive control. The term refers to a range of nonphysical tactics that abusers use to alter their victim’s behavior, including stalking, intimidation, and financial abuse. In June, Gov. Mills signed a bill adding the term to Maine’s protection-from-abuse statute.
Rep. Holly Eaton, of Deer Isle, proposed the bill after hearing from a constituent whose close family member had faced years of emotional and psychological abuse.
“Like many survivors, they struggled to navigate a legal system that did not recognize the full extent of the abuse they suffered,” Eaton said in testimony.
Within the past decade, nearly a dozen states have enacted legislation concerning coercive control. In most cases, including in Maine, these laws add the term to the definition of domestic abuse in civil statutes (Hawaii is the only state to criminalize the practice). Outside of the United States, some countries, such as the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, explicitly classify coercive control as a criminal offense.
Some stakeholders, however, warned that change in statute could harm the very people it aims to protect.
In separate testimonies, representatives from the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition and the Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers argued that the legislation was vague and lacked clear criteria for enforcement. Representatives from the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence and Legal Services for Maine Elders expressed concern that the new language could be used against victims as well as abusers.
“There is some risk that abusers may turn the law against the victim, arguing that legitimate efforts by the victim to secure their own safety may somehow be twisted to look like attempts to exercise coercive control over the abuser,” said John Brautingam, testifying on behalf of Legal Services for Maine Elders.
Content retrieved from: https://themainemonitor.org/domestic-abuse-definition-coercive-control/.
