Brennan Program Justice Talks 2024 #5 Making the law more responsive to domestic and family violence

Is criminalising coercive control the answer?

From 1 July 2024, NSW became the first Australian jurisdiction to criminalise coercive control. This follows developments overseas, particularly in the UK. While there are differences in the way these offences have been drafted, they all are designed to address the fact that domestic violence is a pattern of behaviour involving physical and non-physical forms of abuse used by a perpetrator to control their victim. The move to criminalise coercive control in NSW, and other parts of Australia, has been the subject of extensive debate. Particularly in terms of concerns about inadequate responses to currently available laws, unintended consequences such as the misidentification of women as offenders (a particular concern for more marginalised groups of women and victims who do not fit stereotypical notions of genuine or deserving victims) and the overincarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples more generally.

In this talk, Associate Professor Jane Wangmann will outline the approach taken in NSW, highlighting some of the potential for the offence to better fit with lived experience of victims of domestic violence, as well as the areas of debate and concern.

This event is open for all UTS Law students, alumni and staff. Staff and alumni can register via Humanitix, UTS Law students can register in CareerHub. 

Zoom link will be emailed 1 day prior to event