Coercive control victimisation: A comprehensive review of related abusive behaviours, risk factors and impacts

Coercive control is a public health and safety issue in urgent need of response in Australia and globally. As the concept of coercive control has become better known and understood, policy and legal reforms related to coercive control response and prevention have attracted increasing debate and rapid change. Some jurisdictions across Australia have criminalised coercive control. Although, at the time of writing, there is not a consistent legislative response in Australia, the Commonwealth government has published National Principles to Address Coercive Control.

We will present the findings from a series of rapid literature reviews on coercive control and related abusive behaviours for the Child Family Community Australia information exchange (CFCA) at the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The CFCA team consulted practitioners, service leaders and researchers who are experts in domestic, family and sexual violence in the development of this work. We have developed evidence-based resources to inform practice, research and policy about coercive control victimisation, the ways that technology can be used to extend the perpetrators reach and violence against family animals to enact coercive control. By considering various aspects of coercive control alongside each other we provide a more holistic understanding of coercive control and its impacts. In each of the three pieces of work, we found negative mental health outcomes for victim-survivors.

Three Key Learnings:
1. An understanding of the frequency, risk factors and impacts of coercive control victimisation.
2. How technology and violence against family animals are used as methods to extend the perpetrators control of victim-survivors.
3. The mental health impacts of coercive control on victim-survivors.

Access the presentation slides here.