Understanding Coercive Control in NSW

KEY TAKE OUTS:

• Learn what constitutes coercive control
• What do I do if I feel this is happening to me
• Is it an offence to be a perpetrator of coercive control?

 

---

On Monday, 1 July 2024, the NSW Crimes Act 1900 was amended to create a new office relating to abusive behaviour towards current or former intimate partners in addition to an amendment to the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 to provide for a new definition of domestic abuse.

 

WHAT IS COERCIVE CONTROL?

Historically, domestic and family violence was recognised as physical violence and/or sexual violence.

Studies have shown and informed the legislators and the public about the devastating and often long-term impacts that other forms of domestic, family, and sexual violence can have on victim survivors.

Coercive control is a form of domestic, family, and sexual abuse that involves a pattern of abuse used to control and dominate another person.

Coercive and controlling behaviours include:

• physical and non-physical abuse, including emotional abuse
• Manipulation
• Intimidation
• threats,
• Harassment
• financial abuse
• sexual coercion
• isolating the victim survivor from family and friends
• monitoring, stalking, dominating and/or technology-facilitated

 

For a prosecution to be successful in respect to a charge of coercive control, the following elements need to be proven through evidence from the complainant.

1. The perpetrator must be an adult over the age of 18
2. The perpetrator and victim survivor must either be currently in an intimate partner relationship or have been in an intimate partner relationship in the past.
3. The perpetrator must have undergone a course of Course of conduct means engaging in behaviour repeatedly or continuously.
4. The course of conduct of the perpetrator must have consisted of abusive Abusive behaviour, must have consisted of or involved:
   1. Violence or threats against, or intimidation of, a person, or
   2. Coercion or control of a person against whom the behaviour is
5. The perpetrator must have intended for the course of conduct to coerce or control the other person.
6. It must be such that a reasonable person would consider the course of conduct would be likely to cause fear that violence will be used against the other person or another person, or a serious adverse impact on the capacity of the other person to engage in some or all of the person’s ordinary day to day activities (whether or not the fear or impact is in fact caused).

As with all criminal offences, the offence needs to be proven beyond reasonable doubt.

The only defence to this charge is a finding after a hearing that the course of conduct did not occur beyond reasonable doubt, or if the perpetrator raises a defence under Section 54E and asserts that the course of conduct was reasonable in all the circumstances.

It has been discovered that there is a link between those who exhibit coercive control behaviours and family violence and homicide.

The NSW Domestic Violence Death Review Team Report 2019 – 2021 found that in 97% of intimate partner domestic violence homicide cases, the victim had experienced coercive and controlling behaviours before being murdered.

The offence itself has the ability to be heard in the Local Court where the maximum period of imprisonment for one offence is two years. However, if there is an election for the matter to be dealt with in the District Court before a Judge, the sentence can be up to seven years.

In addition to the penalty, a person charged with an offence under s54E being Coercive Control, will need to satisfy the court that bail should be granted. This is called a ‘show cause’ offence under the Bail Act. A ‘show cause’ offence makes the release of a person who has been refused Bail by Police more difficult to obtain.

 

UNDERSTANDING THE CHARGE OF COERCIVE CONTROL?

The difficulty for police and complainants in respect to this charge will be the requirement for the complainant to keep records and have evidence of the controlling behaviour. This may be difficult when the coercive control has been evident over a long period of time. It is further a risky task for a complainant to do in the event the perpetrator was to find such stored evidence.

The charge cannot be laid for behaviours which pre-date the legislation, being 1 July 2024, however evidence of previous behaviour prior to this time can still be useful to the prosecution as ‘tendency evidence’ which is evidence that shows that a person has a ‘tendency’ to act or behave in a certain way.

In real terms, the charge itself will not be an easy one for the prosecution to prove in these early stages since the inception of the legislation, as there needs to be an illustrated ‘course of conduct’ evident in the complainants version of events, and a course of conduct takes time to illustrate.

 

HOW COUTTS CAN HELP

In the event you are experiencing coercive control in your relationship, or have fears for your safety, you should contact your local police urgently.

Whether you believe you are experiencing coercive control, or in the event that you have been charged with an offence of coercive control, Coutts have experienced family law and criminal lawyers who are able to assist you in determining what your next steps should be.

Contact us on:

1300 COUTTS 

Or  

Call our criminal law hotline on 02 8324 7527  

Schedule an Appointment Now

---