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‘It isn’t just a shove’: Judicial understandings of domestic abuse and the challenges of recognising and responding to ‘coercive control’ in the criminal and family courts

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posted on 2024-02-09, 17:25 authored by Mandy Burton, Vanessa Bettinson, Vanessa Munro

n many jurisdictions there has been a shift in substantive criminal law to try to recognise coercive control as a form of domestic abuse. Empirical research has assessed the impact of criminalisation, but the main focus has been on policing rather than judicial understandings of coercive and controlling behaviour in domestic relationships. This article reports on an empirical study which examined the implementation of the new offences of coercive control in England and Wales and, comparatively, Scotland. It examined how judicial understandings of domestic abuse might impact on the way that cases are dealt with in both criminal systems. Though small-scale, it provides a much-needed update to research on lay magistrates’ attitudes to domestic abuse in England and Wales, and gives new insights into their key role in criminal and family justice cases. It also explores how Scottish judges are influenced by their perceptions of juror understandings of coercive and controlling behaviour and the importance of professional and public education in this context.

History

Author affiliation

School of Law, University of Leicester

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Published in

Child and Family Law Quarterly

Volume

36

Issue

1

Pagination

39-57

Publisher

Jordan Publishing

issn

1358-8184

Copyright date

2024

Available date

2025-02-09

Language

en

Deposited by

Professor Mandy Burton

Deposit date

2024-02-02

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