Dr. Donna King, Esq.

Dr. Donna King, Esq., serves as Executive Director and an Attorney at Victims’ Safe Harbor Foundation (VSHF). She earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Central Florida, where her research focused on domestic violence, particularly coercive control. She also earned her Juris Doctor from Florida A&M University College of Law and is a Florida licensed attorney.

Dr. King’s work is informed by both extensive academic research and lived experience. As a survivor, she endured more than two decades of abusive litigation following separation and divorce. She pursued legal and sociological training to better understand how abusers can weaponize the judicial system to continue exerting power and control. That experience led her to develop the concepts of Judicial Terrorism® and Judicial Terrorist® to describe and bring greater awareness to the use of legal proceedings as a means of ongoing abuse. Both terms are registered trademarks held by Dr. King.

As an attorney, researcher, educator, survivor, and advocate, Dr. King brings legal, academic, and lived perspectives to cases involving domestic violence, coercive control, and complex family law litigation. Her published scholarship addresses domestic violence and coercive control, women’s rights, post-traumatic stress disorder, the ways prolonged litigation can perpetuate trauma, and intimate partner homicide. She has also presented her research to legal professionals, advocates, and public institutions, including the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime.

Dr. King is the author of Voices of Intimate Partner Homicide: An Exploration of Coercive Control and Lethality, published by Routledge in 2024. Drawing on court records, law enforcement reports, and the documented experiences of homicide victims, the book examines how nonviolent tactics of coercive control can signal lethality even when physical violence has not previously been reported. Through VSHF, Dr. King applies her legal experience, research, and lived understanding to advocate for survivors and educate attorneys, judges, service providers, and the broader community about domestic violence and coercive control within and beyond the judicial system.

When she is not working with VSHF, Dr. King enjoys spending time with her husband, their four children, and their three dogs. She also enjoys traveling, football, and cooking.