What does it mean to be charged with coercive control?

Coercive control is a relatively new addition to the realm of criminal law. In the past year, the legal area has seen additional changes, resulting in even more confusion – especially among those who don’t specialise in this particular legal area.

The result is that those who have been charged with coercive control often don’t know quite what it is that they’re guilty of. While this article doesn’t aim to provide an alternative to advice from a qualified legal professional, it should help to clear up some common areas of confusion around the subject, giving you a clearer idea of what it is that you’re dealing with.

 

What is coercive control?

Coercive control is considered to be a kind of domestic abuse, often one that is carried out over a prolonged period of time. It typically consists of acts or patterns of behaviour towards someone that cause harm or fear in the victim. This might include acts that intimidate, threaten, or even humiliate the individual in question.

Coercive control was first introduced as a criminal offence in the Serious Crime Act 2015, with the intention that it would only apply to current romantic relationships. The definition was expanded in 2023 with the addition of section 68 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, to widen its applicability to include family members and ex-partners as well.

 

What are examples of coercive control?

Coercive control can include relatively minor acts that, over time, significantly limit the agency and freedom of the victim. These include:

• Seizing control of the victim’s resources, such as their bank accounts
• Threatening the victim in a range of different ways
• Tracking their movements, both in the digital and physical realm
• Not allowing the victim access to medical services
• Stopping the victim from seeing their family and friends.

While these actions might not be considered coercive control if carried out on a one-off basis, when it becomes a coercive pattern that significantly affects the victim’s daily experiences, the perpetrator might be found guilty in a court of law.

These patterns don’t have to be carried out over a very long period of time, however; even if the victim had cause to believe that they risked facing violence two times, it would potentially be enough for the offence to apply.

 

Nature of the relationship

While section 68 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 did broaden the applicability of the offence, there are still of course restrictions on the kinds of relationships that fall under the Act’s purview. The victim and the accused must either be in an intimate relationship, be living together and previously have been in a romantic relationship, or live together and be family members. 

 

The kinds of evidence that might be used

Coercive control can be a difficult offence to prove, especially due to the fact that it often lies in how the relationship is communicated. That being said, due to the fact that so much communication is recorded nowadays in the digital realm, it is getting a lot easier.

The prosecution might choose to show text messages, videos, phone records and calls to the emergency services. They will also likely speak with other friends and family members to get witness statements, which will add a qualitative depth to the insights gained through examples of digital communication.

 

Potential sentencing for coercive control

It’s easy to overlook just how serious it is to be found guilty of coercive control. The sentencing guidelines make this fact difficult to ignore, as is evident in the fact that the maximum sentence you could face is 5 years in prison. 

With an offence range of between a community order and 4 years’ custody, this broad range reflects just how much the court will differentiate between more and less serious instances of the crime. 

 

Relevant factors

When determining which sentence is appropriate in a given case, the court will consider both culpability and harm.

Culpability

If the behaviour was intended to increase fear and humiliate the victim, carried out over a long period of time, and used a sophisticated range of methods of control, the offender may be placed in a higher culpability bracket.

If, however, the offence was more limited in both duration and the scope of controlling techniques, and the offender’s behaviour was affected by a mental disorder, then they might be placed in a lesser culpability bracket. 

Offenders that fall somewhere between these two brackets might find themselves in the medium culpability bracket.

Harm

If the victim feared that they would experience violence on a large number of occasions, suffered substantial psychological harm, and experienced very serious damaging effects due to the level of distress and alarm, then the offence will likely be considered Category 1 in terms of harm.

If the fear of violence was more limited, and the distress experienced was less severe, then Category 2 might be more appropriate.

 

The importance of seeking legal advice

With the offence of coercive control, due to the intimate nature of the relationships involved, it can be difficult to gain an objective perspective. As a result, it’s imperative that you seek legal advice as soon as possible. 

In addition to helping to prevent any further criminal acts from occurring, your criminal defence solicitor will be able to ensure that you’re fully prepared to fight any charges in a court of law. This defence might take some time to develop, and it’s imperative that you have enough time to do the best job possible.

No matter how you fight the case, it will be a stressful and emotionally tumultuous experience. Having the right legal team to help you through it will likely make a world of difference, and it’s critical that you get it just right.