Review highlights coercive control risk in ACT family violence deaths

There should also be extra education and training for agencies, including police, to recognise the patterns of coercive control.

An ACT domestic and family violence review has examined 12 deaths in the territory between 2000 to 2022.

The review found coercive control was involved in a majority of the deaths and significant physical violence did not occur prior to the death in about three-quarters of the cases.

Despite this, the review said family members and the community do not recognise coercive control as domestic and family violence and there needs to be greater education and awareness around this.

"A clear, ongoing pattern of coercive control was present in almost all the cases," the review said.

"In approximately 75 per cent of these cases there was a clear absence of significant physical violence prior to the homicide.

"Despite its prevalence victims, family members and the community generally do not recognise coercive control as DFV, particularly in the absence of physical violence."

The report said this pointed to a need for increased education around domestic violence, including a revised definition including coercive control as an "overarching strategy or context for DFV behaviours".

"This is because coercive control is the gendered context for DFV behaviours rather than a separate tactic or behaviour of DFV itself," the review said.

Domestic Violence Crisis Service chief executive Sue Webeck said patterns of coercive control were often dismissed and she strongly supported a recommendations around greater training.

"Too often in our work, we see women's experiences of fear, intimidation and control being dismissed, or unrecognised by police, child protection or court systems. Sometimes they are even misidentified as the person using violence," she said.

"We strongly support the recommendation for those agencies to be trained to better identify coercive control, and who is the real perpetrator."

The review, completed by ACT domestic and family violence review coordinator Kirsty Windeyer, also found most of the victims had little to no engagement with support services.

It found the period around a separation was a "particularly dangerous risk factor of lethality as the perpetrator experiences a loss of control and/or loss of status".

Nine of the offenders and victims were from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. The review said this showed the need for cultural sensitivity when responding to family and domestic violence.

"Response systems should also consider the barriers that CALD victims experience when seeking support, such as language and cultural barriers," the review said.

The review also found children were not generally recognised as victims of family violence and "child-centric interventions" were not offered.

"Appropriate responses are needed to support children and young people as victims of DFV within the context of their family," the review said.

The ACT government has previously said it would monitor how other jurisdictions were moving to criminalise coercive control before considering such measures in the territory.

Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury said coercive control was covered if a person sought a family violence order over the issue. He said if the order was breached it was a criminal offence.

"In that sense, coercive control is covered by criminal offences here in the ACT," he said.

The government is expected to respond to the domestic and family violence review by June.

Mr Rattenbury said the government would consider whether legislative reform was needed or whether greater education was needed.

"We'll look very closely at this report now to identify the best way to tackle this very insidious behaviour," he said.