About This Series: Coercive Control, Emotional Abuse, and the Urgent Need for Change in Florida
This post is part of an ongoing advocacy and education series focused on coercive control, emotional abuse, and the need for stronger legal protections for survivors in Florida. Each piece is grounded in data, survivor-informed perspectives, and policy research designed to inform the public and support legislative change.
If you’re just joining the conversation, here are the previous posts in this series:
- Beyond Bruises: The Forms of Abuse Florida Still Ignores
- When Forgiveness Isn’t Enough: Accountability After Abuse
- Advocating for a Registry of Emotional and Financial Predators in Florida
Together, these blogs are part of a broader campaign to raise awareness, close legal loopholes, and advocate for the reintroduction and passage of Senate Bill 844—a bill that would finally recognize coercive control as a chargeable offense under Florida law.
Florida’s Laws Don’t Reflect the Reality Survivors Face
Florida’s domestic violence statutes are built around physical harm. But for thousands of survivors, the abuse isn’t always visible. It’s a pattern of control—manipulation, isolation, financial dependency, emotional degradation, surveillance, and intimidation. This is coercive control, and it remains legally unrecognized in most states, including Florida.
Too often, non-physical abuse gets lumped under vague “stalking” charges that fail to capture the ongoing psychological, emotional, and economic damage inflicted. Meanwhile, state data confirms that many domestic violence offenders are repeat offenders, and survivors remain vulnerable due to gaps in legal enforcement.
Domestic Violence in Florida: Before, During, and After COVID-19
From 2015 to 2019, Florida averaged between 65,000 and 66,000 reported domestic violence offenses annually, with offense rates between 310 and 325 per 100,000 residents.
In 2020, domestic violence incidents surged to over 106,000 reported cases—a nearly 60% increase—during pandemic lockdowns. Arrests also exceeded 63,000 that year.
While reported domestic violence rates dipped slightly after the 2020 lockdowns, they never returned to pre-pandemic levels. In 2023, Florida recorded 71,431 domestic violence offenses, compared to 65,099 in 2019, which is still significantly higher
Source: Florida Department of HealthCHARTS, Domestic Violence Offenses – Ten Year Report (2013–2023).
The Florida Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team estimates that more than 500 people are killed every year due to domestic violence—and in roughly 1 in 4 of those deaths, there was no prior documented physical abuse, only psychological manipulation, threats, and coercive tactics.
What the Most Recent Data Tells Us
In 2022–2023, Florida’s certified domestic violence centers reported:
- 613,000+ emergency shelter nights
- 80,000+ hotline calls
- 12,800+ survivors and children receiving services
- 184,000+ personalized safety plans created
Source: DCF Annual Report
These safety plans are developed by trained advocates and tailored to each survivor’s situation. They often include:
- Exit strategies and relocation plans
- Safe contact lists
- Go-bags with critical documents
- Technology protections (disabling GPS, locking social accounts)
- Emergency codes or signals
- Childcare and housing coordination
- Documentation tips to support future legal action
But here’s what many don’t realize: these plans are not enforceable. They are a prevention tool—not a protective order. And when the legal system doesn’t recognize coercive control, even the best safety plan becomes a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. Survivors are doing everything right. The system just isn’t built to back them up.
Why Repeat Offenders Keep Getting Away With It
Many individuals involved in domestic violence have only one arrest—but are named in multiple police reports, injunction filings, or civil complaints over 5, 10, even 15 years. These patterns rarely get flagged because there’s no system in place to track behavioral escalation over time—especially across different relationships.
Complicating things further, some individuals appear in these cases both as the accused and the complainant. Domestic violence dynamics are complex. High-conflict relationships, mutual accusations, and reactive harm happen—but that does not erase the risk. In fact, when one person is consistently involved in multiple reports across different partners, that’s often a warning sign—not an anomaly.
Cases frequently collapse due to lack of evidence, witness recantation, or fear of retaliation. According to Florida Bar research and national advocacy reports, victim recantation is common—often driven by fear, financial dependency, or emotional manipulation.
If we had a system that could identify repeat involvement—regardless of who the other party is—victims could be better protected, and recurring aggressors could be required to seek mental health or behavioral intervention. Programs like batterer intervention are already recommended by the CDC. But without formal recognition of coercive control, most of these cases never even make it into the pipeline for help or consequences.
What Florida Law Currently Misses
Florida currently lacks a criminal statute that explicitly defines coercive control as a form of domestic violence. Instead, behaviors like isolation, gaslighting, financial entrapment, and digital surveillance often go uncharged—unless they meet the narrow criteria for stalking under §784.048.
In 2023, the passage of Greyson’s Law expanded civil protection options, allowing judges to consider non-physical abuse when deciding child custody. While meaningful, this law applies only in custody disputes and does not criminally penalize coercive behavior. Without consequences or tracking, patterns of abuse persist—and escalate.
Why Survivors Stay Silent
Many survivors don’t report abuse. Not because it isn’t real—but because speaking up could cost them everything: their homes, income, children, reputations. When the abuser controls the finances, owns the home, or holds legal leverage, “just leave” isn’t realistic advice—it’s a setup for poverty or retaliation.
False reports, while statistically rare, also challenge public trust. There should be accountability across the board. But at its core, the system needs more than blame—it needs reform. Survivors need laws that recognize invisible forms of harm. And they need support structures that don’t punish them for trying to survive.
Senate Bill 844: The Bill That Could Have Changed Everything
Senate Bill 844 would have formally recognized coercive control as a prosecutable form of domestic violence in Florida. It would have enabled earlier intervention before harm escalates into violence, allowed patterns to be tracked, and given survivors legal standing based on emotional and psychological abuse—not just bruises or broken bones.
The bill died in committee.
Its absence leaves a gaping hole in the state’s legal protections. Reintroducing SB 844 would send a clear message: Florida values the safety of survivors and is willing to confront the realities of modern domestic abuse.
Final Thoughts: It Shouldn’t Have to Get Physical to Be Taken Seriously
Domestic violence isn’t always visible—but it’s always dangerous. And too often, the system waits for bruises before it believes survivors.
Senate Bill 844 is not just necessary. It’s overdue.
We need to recognize coercive control as the abuse it is. We need to stop expecting survivors to do all the work without legal protection. And we need to hold abusers accountable.
Because right now? They’re not afraid of consequences.
They know how to manipulate the system.
They know the loopholes.
They know how to walk away—free to do it again.
That has to end.
If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse, there is help:
All services are 24/7 and confidential.
Florida Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-500-1119
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or thehotline.org
TTY: 1-800-787-3224
Text: Text “START” to 88788
Disclaimer: This blog is intended for informational, educational, and advocacy purposes only. The content presented reflects personal and survivor-informed perspectives on patterns of domestic violence and legal reform. Nothing in this post should be interpreted as legal advice or as an accusation against any individual. All statistical claims are based on publicly available data, and links to government or scholarly sources are provided for verification. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and are not intended to defame, malign, or misrepresent any person, institution, or entity.