3 days ago
Stalking 'critical point of intervention' to break cycle of coercive control
Rates of coercive control in regional NSW are 60 per cent higher than the state average, according to the latest quarterly Coercive Control Monitoring report.
The Far West and Orana regions, which include the regional centres of Dubbo and Broken Hill, were the worst areas in the state for coercive control, with a rate four times higher than the state average.
The Central West, Murray and New England North West regions were not far behind, more than double the NSW average.
The report, released on June 19 by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOSCAR), found there had been 224 coercive control incidents in NSW since new laws were introduced in 2024.
Five had charges laid for coercive control and a further 91 had charges laid for other domestic and family violence offences, but not coercive control.
Thirty-four per cent of victims were in the 30-39 year age bracket and 10 per cent of victims were Aboriginal.
BOSCAR's executive director, Jackie Fitzgerald, labelled the result "unsurprising" to ACM, the publisher of this masthead.
"We know that DV is higher in the regions; that is a pretty consistent pattern in crime statistics," she said.
"It is an unfortunate element of the crime landscape in NSW."
READ MORE: Sins of the father: the link between unloving dads and domestic violence
"There is a whole range of issues in regional communities that are not as apparent in Sydney.
"Economic disadvantage, lower employment rates, educational performance, and even health outcomes, are more problematic in regional NSW."
A new offence of coercive control was introduced in NSW on July 1, 2024.
The offence relates to abusive behaviours directed towards a current or former intimate partner with the intention to coerce or control them.
Ms Fitzgerald said they were still waiting for a test case to indicate how the courts treat coercive control charges.
"Only one coercive control case has gone to court in NSW, and the person pleaded guilty," she said.
ANU criminologist Dr Hayley Boxall said it was concerning how few incidents result in formal proceedings.
"Of the 224 incidents reported by BOCSAR, 127 didn't result in any charges being laid at all," she said.
"So what's concerning for me is that we're not seeing widespread use of the new legislation yet. Police are still relying on other offences to take action, and that suggests there might be barriers to progressing coercive control charges."
"I think we really need to take a closer look at why that's happening."
The most common coercive control behaviours identified were harassment, monitoring and tracking, followed by threats or intimidation and financial abuse.
Around 60 per cent of incidents recorded multiple offences.
The most common co-occurrence offences with coercive control were intimidation and stalking, DV assault, and malicious damage.
Dr Boxall described co-occurrence offences such as stalking as a "critical point of intervention".
READ MORE: 'I was instantly homeless': Women who prepare 'go bags' to escape violence
"This is where we have a real opportunity to stop the escalation of abuse," she said.
"But when it comes to reducing coercive control more broadly, I don't think it's helpful to pull the behaviours apart too much, to say 'this bit is about property damage' or 'this bit is about intimidation'.
"We need to look at the bigger picture.
"Coercive control is about patterns - it's about the way these behaviours interact and compound over time."
Rates of coercive control in regional NSW are 60 per cent higher than the state average, according to the latest quarterly Coercive Control Monitoring report.
The Far West and Orana regions, which include the regional centres of Dubbo and Broken Hill, were the worst areas in the state for coercive control, with a rate four times higher than the state average.
The Central West, Murray and New England North West regions were not far behind, more than double the NSW average.
The report, released on June 19 by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOSCAR), found there had been 224 coercive control incidents in NSW since new laws were introduced in 2024.
Five had charges laid for coercive control and a further 91 had charges laid for other domestic and family violence offences, but not coercive control.
Thirty-four per cent of victims were in the 30-39 year age bracket and 10 per cent of victims were Aboriginal.
BOSCAR's executive director, Jackie Fitzgerald, labelled the result "unsurprising" to ACM, the publisher of this masthead.
"We know that DV is higher in the regions; that is a pretty consistent pattern in crime statistics," she said.
"It is an unfortunate element of the crime landscape in NSW."
READ MORE: Sins of the father: the link between unloving dads and domestic violence
"There is a whole range of issues in regional communities that are not as apparent in Sydney.
"Economic disadvantage, lower employment rates, educational performance, and even health outcomes, are more problematic in regional NSW."
A new offence of coercive control was introduced in NSW on July 1, 2024.
The offence relates to abusive behaviours directed towards a current or former intimate partner with the intention to coerce or control them.
Ms Fitzgerald said they were still waiting for a test case to indicate how the courts treat coercive control charges.
"Only one coercive control case has gone to court in NSW, and the person pleaded guilty," she said.
ANU criminologist Dr Hayley Boxall said it was concerning how few incidents result in formal proceedings.
"Of the 224 incidents reported by BOCSAR, 127 didn't result in any charges being laid at all," she said.
"So what's concerning for me is that we're not seeing widespread use of the new legislation yet. Police are still relying on other offences to take action, and that suggests there might be barriers to progressing coercive control charges."
"I think we really need to take a closer look at why that's happening."
The most common coercive control behaviours identified were harassment, monitoring and tracking, followed by threats or intimidation and financial abuse.
Around 60 per cent of incidents recorded multiple offences.
The most common co-occurrence offences with coercive control were intimidation and stalking, DV assault, and malicious damage.
Dr Boxall described co-occurrence offences such as stalking as a "critical point of intervention".
READ MORE: 'I was instantly homeless': Women who prepare 'go bags' to escape violence
"This is where we have a real opportunity to stop the escalation of abuse," she said.
"But when it comes to reducing coercive control more broadly, I don't think it's helpful to pull the behaviours apart too much, to say 'this bit is about property damage' or 'this bit is about intimidation'.
"We need to look at the bigger picture.
"Coercive control is about patterns - it's about the way these behaviours interact and compound over time."
Rates of coercive control in regional NSW are 60 per cent higher than the state average, according to the latest quarterly Coercive Control Monitoring report.
The Far West and Orana regions, which include the regional centres of Dubbo and Broken Hill, were the worst areas in the state for coercive control, with a rate four times higher than the state average.
The Central West, Murray and New England North West regions were not far behind, more than double the NSW average.
The report, released on June 19 by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOSCAR), found there had been 224 coercive control incidents in NSW since new laws were introduced in 2024.
Five had charges laid for coercive control and a further 91 had charges laid for other domestic and family violence offences, but not coercive control.
Thirty-four per cent of victims were in the 30-39 year age bracket and 10 per cent of victims were Aboriginal.
BOSCAR's executive director, Jackie Fitzgerald, labelled the result "unsurprising" to ACM, the publisher of this masthead.
"We know that DV is higher in the regions; that is a pretty consistent pattern in crime statistics," she said.
"It is an unfortunate element of the crime landscape in NSW."
READ MORE: Sins of the father: the link between unloving dads and domestic violence
"There is a whole range of issues in regional communities that are not as apparent in Sydney.
"Economic disadvantage, lower employment rates, educational performance, and even health outcomes, are more problematic in regional NSW."
A new offence of coercive control was introduced in NSW on July 1, 2024.
The offence relates to abusive behaviours directed towards a current or former intimate partner with the intention to coerce or control them.
Ms Fitzgerald said they were still waiting for a test case to indicate how the courts treat coercive control charges.
"Only one coercive control case has gone to court in NSW, and the person pleaded guilty," she said.
ANU criminologist Dr Hayley Boxall said it was concerning how few incidents result in formal proceedings.
"Of the 224 incidents reported by BOCSAR, 127 didn't result in any charges being laid at all," she said.
"So what's concerning for me is that we're not seeing widespread use of the new legislation yet. Police are still relying on other offences to take action, and that suggests there might be barriers to progressing coercive control charges."
"I think we really need to take a closer look at why that's happening."
The most common coercive control behaviours identified were harassment, monitoring and tracking, followed by threats or intimidation and financial abuse.
Around 60 per cent of incidents recorded multiple offences.
The most common co-occurrence offences with coercive control were intimidation and stalking, DV assault, and malicious damage.
Dr Boxall described co-occurrence offences such as stalking as a "critical point of intervention".
READ MORE: 'I was instantly homeless': Women who prepare 'go bags' to escape violence
"This is where we have a real opportunity to stop the escalation of abuse," she said.
"But when it comes to reducing coercive control more broadly, I don't think it's helpful to pull the behaviours apart too much, to say 'this bit is about property damage' or 'this bit is about intimidation'.
"We need to look at the bigger picture.
"Coercive control is about patterns - it's about the way these behaviours interact and compound over time."
Rates of coercive control in regional NSW are 60 per cent higher than the state average, according to the latest quarterly Coercive Control Monitoring report.
The Far West and Orana regions, which include the regional centres of Dubbo and Broken Hill, were the worst areas in the state for coercive control, with a rate four times higher than the state average.
The Central West, Murray and New England North West regions were not far behind, more than double the NSW average.
The report, released on June 19 by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOSCAR), found there had been 224 coercive control incidents in NSW since new laws were introduced in 2024.
Five had charges laid for coercive control and a further 91 had charges laid for other domestic and family violence offences, but not coercive control.
Thirty-four per cent of victims were in the 30-39 year age bracket and 10 per cent of victims were Aboriginal.
BOSCAR's executive director, Jackie Fitzgerald, labelled the result "unsurprising" to ACM, the publisher of this masthead.
"We know that DV is higher in the regions; that is a pretty consistent pattern in crime statistics," she said.
"It is an unfortunate element of the crime landscape in NSW."
READ MORE: Sins of the father: the link between unloving dads and domestic violence
"There is a whole range of issues in regional communities that are not as apparent in Sydney.
"Economic disadvantage, lower employment rates, educational performance, and even health outcomes, are more problematic in regional NSW."
A new offence of coercive control was introduced in NSW on July 1, 2024.
The offence relates to abusive behaviours directed towards a current or former intimate partner with the intention to coerce or control them.
Ms Fitzgerald said they were still waiting for a test case to indicate how the courts treat coercive control charges.
"Only one coercive control case has gone to court in NSW, and the person pleaded guilty," she said.
ANU criminologist Dr Hayley Boxall said it was concerning how few incidents result in formal proceedings.
"Of the 224 incidents reported by BOCSAR, 127 didn't result in any charges being laid at all," she said.
"So what's concerning for me is that we're not seeing widespread use of the new legislation yet. Police are still relying on other offences to take action, and that suggests there might be barriers to progressing coercive control charges."
"I think we really need to take a closer look at why that's happening."
The most common coercive control behaviours identified were harassment, monitoring and tracking, followed by threats or intimidation and financial abuse.
Around 60 per cent of incidents recorded multiple offences.
The most common co-occurrence offences with coercive control were intimidation and stalking, DV assault, and malicious damage.
Dr Boxall described co-occurrence offences such as stalking as a "critical point of intervention".
READ MORE: 'I was instantly homeless': Women who prepare 'go bags' to escape violence
"This is where we have a real opportunity to stop the escalation of abuse," she said.
"But when it comes to reducing coercive control more broadly, I don't think it's helpful to pull the behaviours apart too much, to say 'this bit is about property damage' or 'this bit is about intimidation'.
"We need to look at the bigger picture.
"Coercive control is about patterns - it's about the way these behaviours interact and compound over time."
