Rachel Stewart

As a survivor of sexual assault, as well as someone who has worked with survivors for the past 15+ years, I cannot say enough how strongly I support this bill. Currently, there is an unequal playing field in New Hampshire with respect to civil protections for victims of sexual and domestic violence. Across the hundreds of survivors I have worked with over the years, the relationship between the survivor and their assailant is not the most determining factor in the fear they feel -- it is the violation they experienced and the betrayal of trust. Given that the vast majority of research estimates that between 80-90% of survivors of sexual assault know their perpetrators in some way, this increases the odds that a survivor will have to, after their assault, share space with this individual and navigate the feelings of fear they experience after a brutal interpersonal attack. Under the current law, if they did not have an ongoing sexual or romantic relationship with this person, they must wait for further harm to be done to them, experiencing stalking, in order to be eligible for an order of protection. A 2022 study by Basile, Smith, Wang, & Friar in the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma found that, in the United States, an estimated 9.8 million women and 1.9 million men experience both sexual victimization and stalking by the same perpetrator. Nearly 25% of those individuals experienced this violence by someone other than an intimate partner. Obtaining a protective order on the basis of sexual assault could prevent the further harm of stalking from happening to these individuals in the first place by providing a civil protection from their attacker BEFORE the violence expands from sexual victimization to ongoing stalking. In the past 15 years, I have worked with so many survivors who have experienced sexual assault that caused them to feel fear so substantial they had to alter their day-to-day routines, change residences, leave jobs or organizations they loved, just to feel safe again. These survivors were assaulted by roommates, friends' boyfriends or spouses, co-workers, friends, acquaintances. They should not have to uproot their lives just because their offender wasn't their partner. They should not have to wait for further harm to come in the form of stalking for them to be eligible for an order of protection. Civil remedies such as protective orders can often provide a survivor with enough feelings of security to finally breathe again, to exit from states of terror and hypervigilance and truly evaluate their options. With safety and distance, they are better able to evaluate their other options of recourse and pursue justice, if they so choose. For these reasons and so many more, providing sexual assault protection orders in New Hampshire, (like already exist in so many states, including Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Washington) have the potential to further support not just the safety and wellbeing of survivors, but also public safety and justice as well.