Coercive Control in Trafficking & Abuse Cases

Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness

Additional Information

Dr. Felicia Rosario provides behavioral analysis in trafficking and abuse cases involving coercive control, psychological pressure, fear, dependency, and power imbalance. Attorneys retain her to explain how these dynamics shape disclosure, decision-making, communication, and testimony in legal settings. Her work clarifies behavior that courts and juries often misread—such as inconsistent statements, return to abusers, compliance under threat, and apparent passivity or emotional flatness—by situating it within coercive environments rather than individual pathology. She has been retained in criminal, family law, and domestic violence matters in state and federal proceedings. Dr. Rosario holds an MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed a psychiatry internship at LAC+USC Medical Center, one of the nation's busiest public psychiatric emergency systems. She is a member of Harvard Medical School's Program in Psychiatry and the Law (PIPATL), an interdisciplinary forum focused on the intersection of behavioral science and legal decision-making. Her expertise is further grounded in documented firsthand experience within a coercive system, as Executive Producer and featured subject of the Hulu documentary Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence. The documentary has been used by FBI special agents in coercive control and trauma-informed training for new agents. Dr. Rosario provides consulting services based on record review and behavioral analysis. She does not conduct independent medical examinations or render psychiatric diagnoses. Available for expert reports, strategic consultation, deposition, and trial testimony nationwide and in international proceedings.