Browse our publications to learn more about how we support immigrant survivors of gender-based violence through service in communities, courts, and Congress.
A new report by Tahirih, Comparing Compromises: Varying Impacts of Laws that Limit, But Do Not End Child Marriage analyzes data from states that have recently passed a reform to limit child marriage. The report compares the effectiveness of “compromise” legislation – laws that fall short of eliminating marriage under age 18. When complete elimination of child marriage is not possible, the research found that limiting marriage to legal adults, with a robust judicial process, offers the most protection. States that implemented this type of reform saw up to a 96% reduction in child marriage. Other compromise laws were far less effective at preventing child marriages, showing us that the impacts of these reforms vary greatly and there are critical differences hidden in the details of legislative text.
Making Progress, But Still Falling Short outlines what more needs to be done to end child marriage in America both at the state and federal level. It contains the latest analysis (updated November 30, 2023) on all 34 states that have recently enacted laws to end or limit child marriage, calling out features that make them strong or weak.
For a high-level summary of the nature of all the marriage-age reforms enacted by states since 2016, please click here.
For a map of all the reforms made since 2016, please click here.
For analysis of the impact of reforms that limited, but did not end, child marriage, click here.
Since 2016, 34 U.S. states have enacted legislative reforms to end or limited child marriage and this summary offers a concise look at the impacts of these reforms. Variations in minimum age of marriage, legal emancipation requirements, judicial responsibilities, and allowable age differences between spouses, among other legal limitations, are highlighted to give a complete view of what incremental progress has looked like in those states that have not yet set a bright line age of marriage at 18 without exceptions. This document complements the Map of Legislative Reforms to give more detailed information on current marriage laws in those 34 states that have initiated reforms.
The chart that can be accessed at the “download” button below, updated November 30, 2023, serves as a resource for understanding the state legal regimes that permit child marriages to happen in the United States. It is an eye-opening compilation of the actual text of all 50 states’ laws on minimum marriage age and exceptions that among other things, highlights how many states set which age “floors” for marriage.
For 50-state appendices with detailed “scorecards” on features of states’ minimum marriage age laws, updated as of November 30, 2023, click here.
For a 50-state analysis of the alarming disconnect between minimum marriage ages, age of majority, and statutory rape laws, updated as of August 1, 2020, click here.
Legal writing is a craft defined by strict expectations and parameters, and all litigators must generally adhere to those expectations. If we do not do so, we serve our clients poorly. But in some cases, the need to center the survivor, to center the humanity of all involved in the story, and to navigate the charged context of immigration proceedings requires nuanced departures from standard legal writing. This legal writing guide provides principles for communication that emphasizes the humanity of immigrant survivors and every person in a client’s story.
A new report by Oxfam America and the Tahirih Justice Center documents how common it is for migrants seeking asylum to experience gender-based violence in Mexico while waiting to access the asylum process in the U.S. In Surviving Deterrence: How U.S. Asylum Deterrence Policies Normalize Gender-Based Violence, Oxfam America and Tahirih explain how U.S. asylum deterrence policies, such as border closures and expulsions, exacerbate conditions that cause gender-based violence to proliferate at the southern border. The report further asserts that survivors who do manage to apply for asylum face an inequitable and re-traumatizing process on a systemic level.
A new report from Tahirih Justice Center and Oxfam America.
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