New research reveals victim-survivors’ views on the criminalisation of coercive control in Australia

More than 90 per cent of women victim-survivors of coercive control believe it should be criminalised in Australia, according to a new Monash University study.

The Monash University led study, the largest global study of victim-survivors views on the criminalisation of coercive control, reveals 91 per cent of female victim-survivors surveyed believe coercive control should be a criminal offence.

While 87.5 per cent of victim-survivors overall surveyed supported criminalisation.

Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre Director Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon with Dr Ellen Reeves, and Professors Sandra Walklate and Silke Meyer’s work significantly advances the national evidence-base on victim-survivors views on the criminalisation of coercive control.

“Victim-survivors resoundingly support the introduction of a separate offence of coercive control,” Professor Fitz-Gibbon said.

“This is a significant finding given that several state and territory governments are currently grappling with what reforms to adopt to improve responses in this area.”

Coercive control is a term used to capture the long-term, ongoing nature of a wide range of forms of intimate partner violence which are not exclusively physical and can pervade an individual’s daily life with devastating impact.