Description
Children of Coercive Control extends Evan Stark's path-breaking analysis of interpersonal violence to children, showing that coercive control is the most important cause and context of child abuse and child homicide outside a war zone, as well as of the sexual abuse, denigration, exploitation, isolation and subordination of children. The book provides a working model of the coercive control of children and illustrates its dynamics and consequences with dramatic cases drawn from the headlines and Dr. Stark's forensic practice. The cases include those in which the coercive control of children runs in tandem with the coercive control of women, where children are "weaponized" in the coercive control of their mother and cases where abused mothers harm their children to survive or protect them from worse. By highlighting a criminal cause of child maltreatment and a plausible justice response, Evan Stark challenges the common assumptions that child abuse and neglect fall on a continuum of problems rooted in maternal deficits, immaturity, poverty, and environmental stressors as well as the combination of Child Welfare and Child Protection Services that currently provide the ameliorative response.
Table of Contents
Introduction Part I: The Context for Coercive ControlCh. 1 In the Beginning: There Oughta be a Law Ch. 2 The Abused Woman and "The Invisible Man" Ch. 3 The Old Model: Domestic Violence and Child AbuseCh. 4 Nicholson v. Williams Part II: The Coercive Control of Children: The New ModelCh. 5 Violence, Sexual Assault and Psychological Abuse Ch. 6 Isolation, Intimidation, and Control Ch. 7 Child Abuse as Tangential Spouse Abuse Part III: Children of Coercive ControlCh. 8 The Murder of Daniel Pelke Ch. 9 Rachel and her Children Ch. 10 Carmen Barahona Conclusion
