Restraining Forced Marriage

18 NEV. L.J. 919, MARTIN - FINAL 5/30/18 2:08 PM RESTRAINING FORCED MARRIAGE Lisa V. Martin* Although long a component of international women’s human rights plat- forms, forced marriage is only presently gaining attention as a critical problem in the United States. In recent years, a number of states have considered legislation to redress forced and child marriage, most by increasing the minimum age to marry and/or mandating judicial approval of marriages involving minors. Al- though civil marriage reform is important, it alone is insufficient to combat forced marriage. Even where civil marriage is limited to adults, minors remain vulnerable to forced customary, religious, common law marriages, and marriages consecrated abroad. Further, intended spouses of all ages remain vulnerable to conduct intended to coerce their consent to marry. To prevent and redress forced marriage, potential victims need ready access to emergency civil injunctive relief. Civil protection orders are the central civil injunctive remedy relied upon to address intimate partner violence, rape, and stalking in the United States. The expedited and flexible remedies of civil protection orders could also help combat forced marriages; however, common legal standards create barriers to relief for those vulnerable to forced marriage. This Article is the first to under- take a detailed evaluation of the viability of civil protection orders to prevent and redress forced marriage. Although protection orders show promise as a tool to prevent and redress forced marriage in many states, the nuances of the governing legal standards reduce the practical utility of the remedy for those who lack ex- pert guidance. To enhance the accessibility of protection orders in the context of forced marriage, this article proposes that states create a new forced marriage protection order like that established in the United Kingdom to address the spe- cific needs of those facing this problem. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. FORCED MARRIAGE IN THE UNITED STATES ....................................... 924 A. Definitions .................................................................................... 924 B. The Scope of the Problem ............................................................ 928 C. Causes .......................................................................................... 930 D. Tactics .......................................................................................... 932 * Assistant Professor of Law, University of South Carolina School of Law. For their helpful review and comments, I am grateful to Professors Leigh Goodmark, Natalie Nanasi, and Marcia Zug. I thank Jeanne Smoot and Casey Swegman of the Tahirih Justice Center’s Forced Marriage Initiative, and the participants in the works in progress sessions of the 2017 American Association of Law Schools Conference on Clinical Legal Education and the 2016 Southern Clinical Conference for sharing their insights and helping to refine my ideas. I also thank Law Librarians Emily Black and Candle Wester and Research Assistants Katherine York and Sara Ensenat for excellent research support. 919 18 NEV. L.J. 919, MARTIN - FINAL 5/30/18 2:08 PM 920 NEVADA LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 18:919 E. Consequences ............................................................................... 933 F. Legal Responses ........................................................................... 934 G. Gaps in Legal Relief ..................................................................... 936 II. THE VIABILITY OF CIVIL PROTECTION ORDERS TO PREVENT FORCED MARRIAGE ............................................................................. 940 A. The History and Goals of Civil Protection Orders ...................... 940 B. The Potential for Civil Protection Orders to Prevent Forced Marriage ...................................................................................... 942 C. The Fit of Civil Protection Orders to the Problem of Forced Marriage ...................................................................................... 943 1. Qualifying Relationships ....................................................... 944 a. Parents ............................................................................. 944 b. Family and Household Members ..................................... 945 c. Intended Spouse ............................................................... 946 d. Crime-Based Relationships ............................................. 947 i. Stalking ..................................................................... 948 ii. Sexual Assault .......................................................... 948 2. Qualifying Conduct ................................................................ 949 a. Physical Violence ............................................................ 950 b. Rape ................................................................................. 951 c. Non (Physically) Violent Conduct ................................... 954 i. Child Endangerment/Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor ................................................................. 955 ii. Stalking and Harassment ......................................... 956 iii. Criminal Coercion/Restraint of Liberty ................... 957 iv. Emotional Abuse ...................................................... 958 d. Constitutionally Protected Parental Conduct ................. 958 3. The Impediments of Minority ................................................. 960 a. Standing ........................................................................... 961 b. Capacity ........................................................................... 965 4. Remedies ................................................................................ 968 D. The Efficacy of Civil Protection Orders to Prevent Forced Marriage ...................................................................................... 969 III. RESTRAINING FORCED MARRIAGE ........................................................... 970 A. Specialization ............................................................................... 971 1. A Model for Reform ............................................................... 971 2. Forced Marriage as the Relationship .................................... 972 3. Forced Marriage as the Conduct .......................................... 973 4. Targeted Solutions ................................................................. 975 5. Publicizing Relief ................................................................... 975 B. Evolution ...................................................................................... 976 1. Moving Away from the Criminal Paradigm .......................... 976 2. Toward the Perspective of the Targeted ................................ 977 3. Toward a Presumption of Access .......................................... 978 18 NEV. L.J. 919, MARTIN - FINAL 5/30/18 2:08 PM Spring 2018] RESTRAINING FORCED MARRIAGE 921 C. Circumspection ............................................................................ 979 1. Feasibility .............................................................................. 979 2. Enforceability ........................................................................ 979 3. Desirability ............................................................................ 981 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 983 APPENDIX 1: MINOR QUALIFYING RELATIONSHIPS* (STANDING) INCLUDE AGE RESTRICTIONS AS NOTED ............................................................................... 985 APPENDIX 2: QUALIFYING ADULT REPRESENTATIVES DESIGNATED BY PROTECTION ORDER STATUTES ...................................................................... 990 APPENDIX 3: QUALIFYING CONDUCT .............................................................. 995 APPENDIX 4: STATE PROTECTION ORDER STATUTES EXPLICITLY ADDRESSING LEGAL CAPACITY OF MINORS ......................................................................... 999 APPENDIX 5: ADULT QUALIFYING RELATIONSHIPS CHART .......................... 1001 INTRODUCTION Sara Tasneem’s father forced her to marry a stranger in a religious ceremony in California when she was fifteen years old. At the time, she had no interest in marriage. She was focused on school and dreamed of becoming an attorney. After her marriage, she was taken out of the country, impregnated, and eventu- ally returned to the United States to marry in a civil ceremony.1 Sara’s father had “an abusive personality,” and she felt unable to defy his plans for her marriage. Had she tried, Sara would have had few options.2 Although long recognized as a social problem at the international level, forced marriage—a marriage that lacks the consent of one or both spouses—is only now3 gaining similar attention in the United States.4 No national data ex- 1 Ms. Tasneem’s is identified only by her first and middle names to protect her from further issues. David Whiting, California Lacks Minimum Marriage Age, Puts Children in Danger, ORANGE CTY. REG. (June 15, 2017), http://www.ocregister.com/2017/06/15/california-lacks- minimum-marriage-age-puts-children-in-danger/ [https://perma.cc/DH9J-ND35]. 2 Id. 3 Ramatu Bangura et al., A Closer Look at Forced and Early Marriage in African Immigrant Communities in New York City, 3 SAUTI YETU OCCASIONAL REP. 1, 1 (2012), http://victimsofcrime.org/docs/nat-conf-2013/handout-2.pdf?sfvrsn=2 [https://perma.cc/U5

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