• Robin Boyle-Laisure, JD

    United States   ICSA Board Member and Professor of Legal Writing at St. John’s University School of Law, Robin Boyle-Laisure lectures on topics concerning cults and the law. Her work addresses legal protections for victims of cultic abuse, including the use of trafficking laws and federal protections for women and children.   Publications

    • Staying safe: Observing warning signs of a dangerous liaison. Boyle-Laisure, R., & Laisure, A. (2017). ICSA Today.
    • Employing trafficking laws to capture elusive leaders of destructive cults. Boyle-Laisure, R. (2016). Oregon Review of International Law, 18, 147–178.
    • Current status of federal law concerning violent crimes against women and children: Implications for cult victims. Boyle-Laisure, R. (2002). Cultic Studies Review, 1(3), 281–302.
    • How children in cults may use emancipation laws to free themselves. Boyle-Laisure, R. (1999). Cultic Studies Journal, 16(1), 45–63.
    • Women, the law, and cults: Three avenues of legal recourse—New rape laws, Violence Against Women Act, and anti-stalking laws. Boyle-Laisure, R. (1998). Cultic Studies Journal, 15(2), 133–150.
      Socials

    United States
    • Staying safe: Observing warning signs of a dangerous liaison. Boyle-Laisure, R., & Laisure, A. (2017). ICSA Today.
    • Employing trafficking laws to capture elusive leaders of destructive cults. Boyle-Laisure, R. (2016). Oregon Review of International Law, 18, 147–178.
    • Current status of federal law concerning violent crimes against women and children: Implications for cult victims. Boyle-Laisure, R. (2002). Cultic Studies Review, 1(3), 281–302.
    • How children in cults may use emancipation laws to free themselves. Boyle-Laisure, R. (1999). Cultic Studies Journal, 16(1), 45–63.
    • Women, the law, and cults: Three avenues of legal recourse—New rape laws, Violence Against Women Act, and anti-stalking laws. Boyle-Laisure, R. (1998). Cultic Studies Journal, 15(2), 133–150.

Late twentieth-century psychoanalytic interpretations of sects and cults: Weston La Bare, Norman Cohn, & E. P. Thompson

Volume 1, 2020

Stephen A. Kent, PhD
This article revisits the role of classical psychoanalysis in early studies of sectarian and cultic groups. Highlighting works by La Barre, Cohn, and Thompson, it argues that despite its limitations, Freudian theory offered valuable interpretive

Preventing predatory alienation by high-control groups: The application of human trafficking laws to groups popularly known as cults, & proposed changes to laws regarding federal immigration, state child marriage, & undue influence

Volume 2, 2021

Robin Boyle-Laisure, JD
This article reviews recent U.S. legal developments related to high-demand groups and coercive control. It covers the NXIVM case’s use of human trafficking laws, asylum challenges for cult escapees, child marriage reforms, the evolving theory

Book review of Scarred: The true story of how I escaped NXIVM the cult that bound my life

Volume 2, 2021

Robin Boyle-Laisure, JD
This book review examines Scarred, Sarah Edmondson’s firsthand account of NXIVM, analysing coercive control, recruitment tactics, psychological manipulation, and the long-term personal consequences of life inside a high-control group.

Human trafficking, cults, & coercion: The use of drugs as a tool

Volume 5, 2023

Robin Boyle-Laisure, JD
This article examines how traffickers exploit drug addiction to coerce victims into sex work, reshaping legal understandings of coercion.