Definitions of Domestic Violence - Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe

Defined in Domestic Violence Civil Laws
Citation: Tribal Code § 15.01.02

The term 'coercion' means to restrain, compel, persuade, or dominate by force or threat.

The term 'contact' includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Repeatedly coming into and/or remaining in the visual or physical presence of the victim
• Following the victim
• Waiting outside the victim's home, property, place of work, or school
• Sending or making written communications in any form, including text messaging, instant messaging, and social media, to the victim
• Speaking with the victim by any means, including leaving a voicemail message
• Communicating with the victim through a third person
• Committing a crime against the victim
• Communicating with a third person who has some relationship to the victim with the intent of impacting the third person's relationship with that victim
• Communicating with business entities with the intent of affecting some right or interest of the victim
• Damaging the victim's home, property, place of work, or school
• Delivering directly or through a third person any object to the victim's home, property, place of work, or school 

'Course of conduct' means a pattern of conduct composed of a series of acts over a period of time, however short, evidencing a continuity of purpose.

'Family violence' means the same or similar act or attempted act committed in domestic violence that is an offense defined in § 5.01.17, et. seq., when such an act is directed towards a family or household member instead of an intimate partner. The dynamics of power and control may not be present.

'Harassment' means engaging in a knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific person that seriously alarms, annoys, or is detrimental to such person, and that serves no lawful purpose. The course of conduct shall be such as would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress and actually cause substantial emotional distress to the victim, or, when the course of conduct is contact to a minor child by a person over age 18, that would cause a reasonable parent to fear for the well-being of that child.

'Nonconsensual sexual contact' means a lack of mutual consent in touching any of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person done for the purpose of gratifying sexual desire or either party or a third party. A lack of verbal or physical resistance does not constitute consent. There is a presumption that a sleeping, unconscious, or incompetent person cannot consent to sexual contact.

Defined in Child Abuse Reporting and Child Protection Laws

This issue is not addressed in the Tribal codes reviewed.

Defined in Criminal Laws
Citation: Tribal Code §§ 5.01.17; 5.01.18; 5.01.19; 5.01.22

The term 'domestic violence' means any act or attempted act that is an offense listed in this title where the offense is committed against a victim by any of the following:

• A current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim
• A person with whom the victim shares a child in common, or the victim or the defendant is pregnant by the other
• A person who is cohabitating with or who has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner  
• A person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim, as determined by the following factors:
  • The type and nature of the relationship
  • The frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship
  • The length of the relationship

The term 'family violence' means any act or attempted act that is an offense listed in this title where the act is directed towards a family or household member. The dynamics of power and control may or may not be present.

A crime will be designated as 'aggravated domestic violence or family violence' if the person used a weapon during the commission of the domestic violence.

A person commits 'strangulation or suffocation' by intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly impeding the normal breathing or circulation of the blood of another person by either of the following:

• Applying pressure on the throat or neck of the other person, regardless of whether that conduct results in loss of consciousness, visible injury, or whether there is any intent to kill or injure the victim
• Blocking the nose or mouth, or both, of the other person, or applying weight to the other person's chest, regardless of whether that conduct results in loss of consciousness, visible injury, or whether there is any intent to kill or injure the victim

Persons Included in the Definitions
Citation: Tribal Code § 15.01.02

The term 'dating partners' refers to persons who are or have been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature, as determined by the length of the relationship, the type and nature of the relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved.

The term 'domestic violence' refers to any act or attempted act that is an offense listed in title 5 when the offense is committed against a victim by any of the following: 

• A current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim
• A person with whom the victim shares a child in common, or the victim or the defendant is pregnant by the other
• A person who is cohabitating with or who has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner
• A person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim, as determined by the following factors: 
  • The type and nature of the relationship
  • The frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship
  • The length of the relationship

'Family or household member' means any of the following: 

• Persons who are related by blood, marriage, court order, or adoption
• Minor children by blood, marriage, or adoption
• Minor children who are part of the household
• Persons who reside or have resided together in the past who are not or have not been intimate partners

The term 'immediate family' includes a spouse, parent, child, stepchild, sibling, half-sibling, live-in partner, or any other person who regularly resides in the household or who in the past regularly resided in the household.

The term 'intimate partners' includes the following: 

• Persons who are spouses, former spouses, or persons who are or have been in a marital-like relationship, including same-sex relationships
• Persons who have a child in common, regardless of whether they have been married or have lived together at any time in a romantic relationship