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Abstract

The incorporation of Stark’s (2007) concept of coercive control into our understanding of domestic abuse has led to the introduction of a new criminal offence of Controlling or Coercive Behaviour (CCB) in England and Wales, and updated policy, training and practice across criminal justice agencies, domestic abuse support services and beyond. These materials place much focus on the perpetrator’s use of emotional and economic abuse, isolation, and threats and intimidation to control victims by keeping them in a permanent state of fear and restricting their freedom of action and choice. However, despite its inclusion in statutory guidance (Home Office, 2015), a behaviour that is less recognised is making victims commit crime.

 

Police have a duty to identify and protect victims of domestic abuse, including where they have committed a criminal offence. Yet campaigners argue that many women who commit crime as a result of coercive control are being unfairly criminalised because their contextual abuse is not being recognised or taken into account. This research explores the barriers to police identifying female offenders as victims of coercive control through primary research with police officers, representatives from the College of Policing and National Police Chief’s Council, and domestic abuse services and training providers. It establishes the existence of a ‘first response silo’ in which policing policy and practice struggles to recognise victims of domestic abuse outside of the context of first response to reports of domestic abuse. It also highlights the lack of guidance for police officers on how to manage disclosures of contextual domestic abuse from female offenders, suggesting inconsistency in safeguarding outcomes and charging decisions. Drawing parallels with Section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, which provides protection for victims of modern slavery who have been forced to commit crimes by their exploiters, it makes the case for a similar statutory defence for women coerced to offend in order to break the ‘first response silo’ and provide police and other criminal justice agencies with the framework, tools and impetus to identify female offenders as victims of coercive control.

Course: Criminal Justice - MSc - C2681F

Date Deposited: 2023-05-11

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14135.html