Practitioner (mis)understandings of coercive control in England and Wales

Abstract

Coercive control is harmful behaviour recently criminalized in England and Wales. The extent to which the work of practitioners is informed by an understanding of coercive control therefore requires investigation. Using data from two mixed methods multi-site studies, this article suggests that practitioners’ recognition of coercive control does not seem to be universally poor or skilled, but rather depends on the characteristics of the situation itself, the organizational context in which practitioners work and the stage at which they are evaluating whether coercive control is present. The absence of a clear understanding of the importance of coercive control when making judgements about victims and perpetrators has serious implications for the efficacy of current approaches to domestic abuse. Purposeful and systematic efforts to support practitioners to recognize and respond effectively to coercive control are required.

The Criminalisation of Coercive Control: The Power of Law?

“…Early evaluations of the English legislation point to problems for frontline police officers in 'seeing' coercive control (Wiener 2017), in practitioner understandings of coercive control more generally (Brennan et al 2018;Robinson, Myhill and Wire 2018) and problems associated with providing evidence of this offence (Bishop and Bettinson 2018). However, despite mixed evaluations of its early operation, like offences have continued to emerge in nearby jurisdictions, including the aforementioned Scottish offence and most recently, the introduction of a new offence of coercive control in Ireland, under section 39 of the Domestic Violence Act.…”

Young Adult Women's Perceptions of Their Maritally Violent Fathers

“…In the United States, judges are required to take into consideration allegations of DV when making child custody decisions (American Bar Association, ); however, in policy, the focus is still on discrete acts of physical violence without attention to the context in which the violence occurs. In contrast, coercive control has been an explicit part of the U.K. government's definition of DV since 2013, and in 2015, the United Kingdom began legislating coercive control within an intimate or family relationship as a criminal offense in Section 76 of their Serious Crime Act (Robinson, Myhill, & Wire, ). It is important to note, however, that legislation does not guarantee proper practical application.…”

“…It is important to note, however, that legislation does not guarantee proper practical application. Robinson et al (), for example, found that English and Welsh police officers were often unaware of what coercive control entails, how they should identify it, and the potentially negative implications for misunderstanding the construct.…”

Risk assessment for intimate partner violence: how can the police assess risk?

“…For example, including risk items such as 'strangulation' and 'controlling behaviour' may encourage police officers to investigate for these factors. With regards controlling and coercive behaviour, this might be critical because it can have a profound impact on the victim but may not be immediately apparent to police officers without probing questions (Myhill & Hohl, 2016: Robinson, Pinchevsky, & Guthrie, 2016bRobinson, Myhill, & Wire, 2017). Requiring officers to rate this factor may encourage a greater depth of investigation than would otherwise occur.…”