NJ: Lawmakers advance package of bills to protect domestic violence victims
One by one, women appeared before two dozen lawmakers in Trenton on Thursday to share their stories of being brushed off by the courts after surviving horrifying episodes of domestic violence.
A woman who lived in fear of her ex-husband breaking into her house and kidnapping her kids. Another whose ex-husband withheld insurance information and credit cards when she was 36 weeks pregnant at the start of the pandemic. A third who said her then-husband isolated her from her family and convinced her she had no friends, leaving her alone to suffer.
They were all told the abuse they suffered didn’t rise to the level of domestic abuse under current law, and they say their cries for help were ignored until they were victims of physical violence.
A bill advanced Thursday, if it becomes law, could offer them some protections. The legislation would require courts to consider evidence of coercive control when overseeing domestic violence proceedings, along with emotional, physical, and mental abuse, which they must already consider.
https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/lawmakers-advance-package-bills-protect-domestic-violence-victims
