In Control? Minnesota Women Navigating Violence and Coercion

Abstract

Coercive control and intimate partner violence are issues plaguing Minnesota women and girls. This paper examined the extent to which women in Minnesota are protected from intimate partner violence under state and federal policies, and how these protections could be strengthened and expanded to include coercive control. This paper used the term coercive control as conceptualized by Evan Stark (2007), a pattern of physical or non-physical abuse used to trap a woman in an intimate partner relationship. To identify existing safeguards, the paper analyzed the federal Violence Against Women Act and the Gun Control Act of 1968 (including subsequent amendments), alongside Minnesota’s Domestic Abuse Act, Harassment Law, and Victims’ Rights Law. Through this analysis, several gaps were identified in the state’s policies addressing relationship violence. In response, this paper offers three recommendations: (1) The State of Minnesota Should Expand the Legal Definition of Domestic Abuse to Include Coercive Control as a Form of Illegal Violence; (2) The State of Minnesota Should Allocate Grants Specifically for Non-Profit and Non-Governmental Organizations That Work With Victims and Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence, Domestic Violence, and Coercive Control; and (3) The State of Minnesota Should Be Proactive in Hiring Social Workers, Investigators, Law Enforcement, and Court Officials Who Represent Highly Victimized Communities of Women.