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On January 1, new legislation came into effect in Ireland that expanded the country’s legal definition of domestic abuse. Now, as well as physical violence, it’s a crime for a person to exercise ‘coercive control’ against their partner – a term typically used to refer to emotional/psychological and financial abuse.
England and Wales enacted similar laws back in 2015, as did Scotland in 2018.
But what exactly does it all mean? And where does Australia stand on the issue?
Coercive control: “a pattern of abuse of power”.
Ireland’s new law criminalises someone engaging in coercive or controlling behaviour against their spouse or partner. That is, behaviour that causes the victim:
(a) to fear that violence will be used against him or her, or;
(b) serious alarm or distress that has a substantial adverse impact on his or her usual day-to-day activities.
As Moo Baulch, CEO of Domestic Violence NSW, previously told Mamamia, “Domestic violence is not just about broken bones and bruises and visits to the accident and emergency department. It’s a pattern of abuse of power and control usually felt by one partner over another, and there may be a number of different sort of types of behaviour that are occurring.
A prime example comes via the case of Graham O’Shea, a man who was convicted and sentenced under England’s coercive control laws in 2016. As the BBC reported, O’Shea moved into his girlfriend’s home in March that year, and before long enforced a series of rules: he forbade her from washing; he took her bank cards and restricted her to a weekly allowance of 10 GBP; he cut her off from family and friends; and escorted her to and from her bus stop each day. He also physically assaulted her on two occasions.
Top Comments
All the laws in the world are not going to help people in trouble if they’re not going to be enforced. Where’s the article advising victims of crimes of their rights when they report a crime to authorities and no action is taken?
And all the 'woke' advertising campaigns in the world aren't going to stop abusive men from being abusive.
It's still shifting the discussion, though.
I think the discussion should be shifted.
We've done the talking, it's now time for the doing.
How on earth does anyone think they are going to be able to get any justice from a legal system that is broken and the authorities are a law unto themselves as well as the same thugs they protect.
Doctor says she was assaulted by police while trying to assist injured man
https://www.msn.com/en-au/n...
"after she filmed some of the alleged assault on her phone, she says police deleted it; and after she complained to police internal affairs, she was told by police they were considering charging her with resisting arrest."
I don't disagree. People who look to prey upon and exploit another's weaknesses are, in my experience, cognitively challenged and do not posses the self-reflection required to recognise their own inadequacies.
They're too busy 'fixing' the problems (imagined or otherwise) of their victims to bother with trivialities of community messages such as the effing bystander campaign.
If the police are unwilling and/or incapable of doing their job it's time to employ a new team.
Domestic Violence Squad. For domestic related terror. Which is real and not imagined, unlike some of the other kinds of terror related activities where funding and resources seems to be an unlimited supply.
Why is this dialogue all about partners? Does it extend to other relationships? Both my sister and I have a parent like this. It was incredibly difficult to move out/on because of these behaviours. Police & restraining orders were necessarily involved in the end.
I was thinking the same thing. When I was a teenager I lived alone with my alcoholic father who was physically, and relentlessly verbally, abusive toward me. These articles should refer to family members as opposed to partners. Not all abuse is between partners, a lot of even more vulnerable (kids has even less options than adult women) people are suffering at the hands of family violence perpetrated by parents or other family members. Reading articles that focus attention on adult women and their partners only, makes me feel like my many years of suffering are not important.
Domestic and Family Violence covers anyone living under the same roof - even if they are not related. The government, in their wisdom, tried to change this and draw a distinction between sexual partners and simply room-mates. A lot of money was spent on that campaign and one wonders why it was necessary.
I mean, violence is violence. Are we trying to prevent further violence or investigating how many times the individuals involved had sex that week before police take any action or absolve themselves of any unnecessary paperwork?
It seems in your case you were assisted and I hope that that assistance has allowed you to move on. Now, if only, everyone who seeks assistance could be afforded the same treatment.
You are important JD. You didn't deserve the abuse you suffered at the hands of your alcoholic father. You absolutely deserved a loving and caring home environment and the disintegration of the family unit is the result of the indifference of the authorities to domestic violence.
I hope you are in a good place now.
I've never seen that before, can you point me in the direction of the non-related stuff?