Washington § 7.105.903 - Study on coercive control. (Expires January 1, 2028.)

(1) The gender and justice commission, through its E2SHB 1320 stakeholder work groups, and in consultation with the Washington state center for court research, shall include in their 2022 work consideration of a study regarding how the inclusion of coercive control under chapter 268, Laws of 2022 helps to further realize the legislative intent of the law to increase safety for victims by obtaining effective legal protection apart from, or in addition to, the criminal legal system. The possible parameters for such a study would be as follows:

(a) The center for court research may engage or partner with other researchers with expertise in intimate partner violence, coercive control, civil protection order processes, and related research to conduct the study or help with study design, duration, methods, measurements, data collection, and analysis.

(b) The administrative office of the courts and superior and district courts shall provide the center for court research with necessary data to conduct the study, as requested by the center for court research.

(c) The study may include, if determined by the gender and justice commission's E2SHB 1320 stakeholder work groups and the center for court research to be empirically useful and readily measurable through available data, measurements such as:

(i) The ability of survivors to obtain protection orders that fully address the nature of the harm or threat of harm they are experiencing;

(ii) The frequency of inclusion of coercive control in protection order petitions and the nature of the harm or threatened harm articulated;

(iii) Whether the orders were granted and if so, the relief ordered by the court;

(iv) Whether the orders were denied, and if so, the reason for the denial; and

(v) In proceedings involving domestic violence where coercive control is part of the harm alleged:

(A) The frequency of conflicting protection orders, cross-petitions (where each party files a petition against the other), or realigned orders (where the court finds that the original petitioner is the abuser and the original respondent is the victim);

(B) Enforcement of protection order violations;

(C) Other legal proceedings involving either party, such as family, dependency, or criminal matters; and

(D) Whether the parties had legal representation or legal advocates in the protection order proceedings.

(d) The study shall also assess judicial officer training regarding protection orders, and coercive control in particular, and whether additional judicial officers are required to hear protection order proceedings.

(e) To the extent feasible, and considered best practice by the center for court research, the evaluation should also: Gather qualitative information from survivors of domestic violence, legal counsel, protection order advocates and court navigators, court clerks, and judicial officers; and include analysis of any disproportionate impact on survivors by race, immigration status, language, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.

(f) At the conclusion of any study conducted under this section, the center for court research shall report its findings to the legislature in compliance with RCW 43.01.036.

(2) By July 1, 2022, the gender and justice commission through its E2SHB 1320 work groups and the center for court research shall advise the chairs of the relevant policy committees of the legislature of their recommendations regarding need, timing, and design for such a study.

(3) This section expires January 1, 2028.

Effective dates—2022 c 268: See note following RCW 7.105.010.