Kentucky Republican seeks to add coercive control to protective order statute

Rep. Stephanie Dietz, R-Edgewood, will propose expanding protective orders to also cover coercive control. (LRC Public Information)

If you or someone you know has experienced domestic violence, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.

You can also contact any of Kentucky’s 15 domestic violence programs .

A Northern Kentucky Republican intends to file a bill that would add coercive control to Kentucky’s protective order legislation.

Rep. Stephanie Dietz, R-Edgewood, presented a draft of her bill to the Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary Friday in Frankfort.

“We’re all aware of the devastating effects of domestic violence on individuals, families and communities,” she said. “There is a significant gap in our current laws that we can address, and that is coercive control.”

Currently, someone in Kentucky can get a protective order if they’ve experienced physical violence or face immediate threat of physical violence. But some survivors face a more nuanced abuse, Dietz explained.

“It involves a pattern of behavior aimed at undermining a victim’s autonomy and freedom,” she said of coercive control. “This can include manipulation, isolation, financial control and threats, none of which necessarily involve physical violence, but are equally devastating.”

Coercive control is “consistent” and “repetitive” behavior in which one person exerts control over another through isolation, threats, surveillance, loss of financial freedom and medical access and more, explained Christy Burch, the CEO of the ION Center for violence prevention in Northern Kentucky.

The ION Center provides free services , including emergency shelter, pet boarding and court advocacy to survivors of intimate partner violence in a 13-county area.

Through “complete domination,” Burch explained, people in these situations can experience “a loss of total self.”

Such control doesn’t always include physical violence, Burch said, though it can. People in these situations might lose access to money, not be allowed to drive or seek medical care and more, she said. They might be encouraged to quit their job, not hang out with their friends or be threatened with separation from their children.

“Coercive control is utter control,” she told lawmakers. “We worked with (a) survivor who had three children. The kids were never allowed to play outside. Mom was not allowed to potty train kids. The abuser withheld soap, hygiene products, hygiene time, controlled food, controlled whether the children were allowed to school.”

Allowing victims of coercive control to get protective orders, Burch said, would put Kentucky in line with eight other states that have coercive control language in their statutes. Another eight states, including Illinois, have similar language.