Over the past few decades, a whole range of laws have been introduced to protect people’s liberty. The offence of coercive control is another recent addition to this area, making it illegal to control another person’s behaviour and actions in a variety of different ways.
As with many of these laws, it can be confusing – not to mention highly stressful – trying to determine whether you may have crossed the line into illegal activity. In this article, we take a broad look at coercive control, providing general information for someone who believes they may be guilty of a first offence in the UK.
This information is in no way a replacement for legal advice from a criminal defence solicitor. Should you be charged with an offence, or believe that you may be charged in the near future, it is of paramount importance that you seek advice from a qualified criminal defence solicitor at the earliest opportunity available.
Impact of a first-time offence
With many offences, if it’s the first run-in you’ve had with the law, or even if it’s the first time you’ve been charged with this kind of offence, it’s likely that you’ll receive a more lenient sentence should you be found guilty.
Of course, this isn’t a given. If you’re found highly culpable in all other areas, and it’s determined that your actions resulted in a lot of harm, you will still potentially receive a serious sentence should you be found guilty of a crime like coercive control.
However, your criminal history – or lack thereof – can still be highlighted by your criminal defence team, to show that this is not a type of behaviour or activity that you are known to participate in.
Coercive control defined
The offence of coercive control comes under the broader bracket of domestic abuse. However, instead of being a single, dramatic or violent instance of harm, coercive control is generally an offence which is carried out over a more prolonged period of time.
This will typically happen through acts or behavioural patterns that make it difficult for the victim to live their life in a free manner. The offender may do this by humiliating, threatening, or otherwise controlling the victim’s ability to live and act in an autonomous manner.
Legally speaking, the offence was introduced through the Serious Crime Act 2015, although that first act only covered romantic relationships. As we’ll see later on, section 68 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 expanded this definition to also include a range of other close relationships.
Potential examples of coercive control
If the above definition sounds a bit abstract and difficult to pin down, then these examples should help us to understand what coercive control can look like in real life.
The kinds of coercive actions covered by the law that could limit someone’s freedom include:
- Not allowing someone to access or control their own resources, such as their financial accounts
- Preventing someone from seeing people they are close to, such as friends or family members
- Excessively and non-consensually tracking someone’s movement and habits, such as through a digital tracking app
- Making threats at someone to try to change the way they act
As with many other crimes, just because one or more of these examples is present does not necessarily mean that coercive control has been committed. These actions will need to have occurred as part of a more general pattern of control, which will normally require extensive additional context being provided to the court.
While these kinds of actions will generally occur over a longer timeframe, that timeframe need not be excessively long. In fact, it is enough for the victim to have seriously believed they risked violence on two occasions for the offence to have been committed.
What kinds of relationships are covered by the law?
While the definition and examples listed above may seem relatively broad, there are a few restrictions on the kinds of relationships in which the offence of coercive control can take place, from a legal perspective.
In short, the alleged perpetrator and the victim must have been in an intimate relationship, be living together and be related, or be living in the same address and have been previously involved in some kind of romantic relationship.
Proving this kind of relationship will of course be part of the trial process; in some cases, it will be very easy, while in others it might be a lot more difficult.
Sentencing guidelines for coercive control
The individual actions that can lead to a charge of coercive control may not seem so serious on their own, but when combined, the sentencing guidelines illustrate just how seriously the courts take it.
With a sentencing maximum of 5 years in prison, it is clearly not a crime that you will want to take lightly. The offence range is broad, however, between a community order and 4 years in prison; first-time offenders are more likely to receive a sentence towards the lower end of this range, but this is not a given.
When should you seek legal advice?
If you suspect that you may be guilty of actions that could count as coercive control, and you believe that it could be escalated to the level of the courts, it’s crucial that you seek legal advice from a criminal defence solicitor.
Even if you haven’t been charged, and don’t believe that an investigation is underway, having a chat with an experienced legal professional can provide you with peace of mind and help you to avoid engaging in further criminal activity.
Facing charges? We can help. Call our team now on 0161 234 0020 (Manchester) /0203 053 8625 (London) / 07956 555979 (24 hour). You can also contact our team at Ashcott Solicitors via our contact form. We will respond to you as soon as possible.
