08/12/2025
Meet Miguel Aguirre, a member of the Stevens School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Class of 2025. He graduated with a major in social science and minors in science, technology and society, pre-law and public policy, and philosophy. For a capstone project, Aguirre applied a multidisciplinary lens to an urgent issue in American law and policy: domestic violence.
Titled "Mitigation Mapping: Tracing the Legal Response to Domestic Violence," Aguirre’s project examines how effectively state-level legislation across the United States addresses domestic violence. The study analyzes laws such as protection orders, no-drop prosecution policies, coercive control statutes and felony strangulation laws, comparing their implementation and outcomes in five states: California, Texas, New York, New Jersey and Florida.
Using a mixed-methods approach, the legal analysis and statistical data assess the real-world impact of these laws on victim safety and offender accountability. “This project allowed me to explore not just laws on paper, but how they function in practice, what is effective, what is not, and why,” Aguirre said.
Findings show that early reform often stemmed from strong advocacy movements, while later efforts were more reactive. The research also highlights the lack of national data standards and calls for a federally guided approach to domestic violence reporting and enforcement.
"Mitigation Mapping" offers a data-driven framework for policymakers, advocates and legal scholars working to close the gap between legislation and lived experience.
