This policy brief aims to assist policymakers developing legal or policy and practice frameworks to prevent or respond to coercive control in relation to domestic and family violence (DFV). It addresses three considerations emerging from current debates on this topic.

The first is the need for consistent definition of coercive control and its relationship to the definition of DFV in policy and legislative settings, Australia-wide. The second key consideration, criminalising coercive control, necessitates making an assessment of whether the existing evidence base supports the creation of a specific offence. The third involves reforming the culture of response to DFV, in and around the legal system and in other settings.

In considering changes to the way we define and respond to coercive control, it is also necessary to keep front of mind the barriers that diverse groups of women face in our existing justice system, and mitigate risks and unintended consequences of legislative and policy change.