There has been a lot of press recently about coercive and controlling behaviour. It seems to be a new phrase but what exactly is it?
What Does Coercive Control Mean?
Coercive control is a form of domestic abuse. It’s a pattern of behaviour used to control another person by diminishing their confidence and self esteem. It often involves threats, intimidation and humiliation.
The Serious Crime Act 2015 created an offence of coercive and controlling behaviour in an intimate or family relationship where that behaviour has a serious effect on the victim. It was established to fill a gap in the law where there is a pattern of behaviour but where one incident would not be enough to be an offence.
The family courts have taken on board the new offence and coercive and controlling behaviour is now included in the definition of domestic abuse.
The patterns of behaviour can include, but is not limited to, isolating a person from their family and friends, spying on them or tracking their location, monitoring what they do, taking control of their life, repeatedly putting them down or humiliating them.
So How Do The Family Courts Deal With Allegations Of Coercive And Controlling Behaviour?
The family courts used to use the phrase domestic violence. This has now been changed to domestic abuse because the courts recognise that this type of behaviour isn’t just physical. In fact, many victims say that it is the mental abuse such as coercive control that stays with them the longest in terms of their mental health and prevents them from leaving an abusive relationship.
A recent case of F v M (2021) considered a pattern of acts and actually heard evidence about the behaviour of F in his relationship not only with M but also his subsequent relationship. The court confirmed that they had to consider a range of acts and that individual acts must be evaluated "in the context of the wider forensic landscape”.
There were similarities in how each of the women were treated such as being isolated from work, friends and family. In his relationship with M he persuaded her to leave university and made false allegations against her family of controlling behaviour and risk of honour based violence. They moved frequently and sometimes M’s parents didn’t even know where their daughter was. In his relationship with J, his controlling behaviour was such that she left her job and stopped contact with her friends and family. She also left her home with her children from a previous relationship and disappeared. They were eventually found and a result of F’s behaviour meant that a court considering issues regarding her children, found that she had lost sight of their welfare interests and placed the children in the care of their father. They are currently having no contact with J.
The Judge in F V M found that F was a danger to women and said that with this type of domestic abuse the court must recognise that “the significance of individual acts may only be understood within the context of wider behaviour”.
It is clear that coercive and controlling behaviour cannot be considered by looking at individual acts because they may not be that serious or significant. It is when these acts continue and there is a pattern to them that the behaviour starts to have a serious affect on its victim. One incident of not being happy about a partner going out with friends or wanting to know where they have been may not be significant but when it continues to happen and becomes a pattern of behaviour then this is likely to be coercive and controlling behaviour.
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