Vermont recently changed how domestic violence is defined within the civil courts. Starting July 1, 2024, the term “coercive control” is now included in the definition of abuse in Vermont.

What is coercive control?

Coercive control is a pattern of behavior that seeks to control what you do or do not do. Coercive control is a form of emotional and psychological abuse. It can hurt your mental and emotional well-being.

Key elements of coercive control

• Isolation: Restricting your contact with family and friends.
• Deprivation: Controlling your access to money, food or other resources.
• Intimidation: Using threats or actions to scare you.
• Monitoring: Excessively tracking your daily activities.
• Manipulation: Doing things that confuse, disorient or make you afraid.

Examples of coercive controlling behavior

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• Preventing you from seeing or communicating with friends and family.
• Dictating where you can go and who you can see.
• Restricting access to food, clothing or other necessities.
• Making threats to harm you, your children or pets.
• Physically harming pets in front of you.
• Threatening or intimidating you so that you do what the abuser wants or stop doing something you have the right to do.
• Threatening to reveal private or embarrassing information about you.
• Constantly checking your phone, emails or social media to monitor you.
• Using tracking devices or surveillance to monitor your movements.
• Making you account for every minute of your day.
• Making threats of a sexual nature.
• Forcing you into sexual activity.
• Threatening and/or intimidating you so you are in reasonable fear for your safety.

Remember, to prove coercive control, you must show a pattern of behavior. This means that you have experienced one or more of these behaviors more than once.

How Vermont defines coercive control in law

“Coercive controlling behavior” means a pattern of behavior that in purpose or effect unreasonably interferes with a person’s free will and personal liberty. “Coercive controlling behavior” includes unreasonably engaging in any of the following:

1. isolating the family or household member from friends, relatives or other sources of support;
2. depriving the family or household member of basic necessities;
3. controlling, regulating or monitoring the family or household member’s movements, communications, daily behavior, finances, economic resources, or access to services;
4. compelling the family or household member by force, threat or intimidation, including threats based on actual or suspected immigration status, to:
   1. engage in conduct from which such family or household member has a right to abstain; or
   2. abstain from conduct that such family or household member has a right to pursue;
5. committing or threatening to commit cruelty to animals that intimidates the family or household member; or
6. forced sex acts or threats of a sexual nature, including threatened acts of sexual conduct, threats based on a person’s sexuality, or threats to release sexual images.

Here is a link to the law: 15 V.S.A. § 1101

More information

Read about these topics:

• “I’m Being Abused”
• “I Want to Leave But Can’t Afford To”
• Asking for a Relief from Abuse Order
• Abuse, Stalking & Financial Issues
• Protection for Minors / Children