Coercive control is finally becoming illegal in Northern Ireland
It's a big day in Parliament today, as the Domestic Abuse Bill will receive its first reading in the House of Commons, bringing it one step closer to being enacted in law. As part of the new legislation, Northern Ireland will finally see coercive control becoming an illegal offence.
While it seems like little else aside from Brexit talks have been going on in government over the past three years, one of the other things that's been worked on is a new set of laws on domestic abuse. And it's about time, too, because the existing law surrounding domestic abuse is flawed. The sheer number of incidences that occur every year tell us that.
2 million adults in England and Wales were known by police to have experienced domestic abuse in 2017 (and then there’s all the ones who don't report their situations to the authorities). Women’s Aid’s 2018 census on femicide revealed that 59% of all women murdered in 2017 were killed inside their own homes, and other recent statistics from the charity indicate that an estimated 21,084 of referrals to refuges in England were declined in the year 2017/18, averaging over 400 rejections each week.
The new Domestic Abuse Bill will introduce the first ever statutory government definition of domestic abuse, will prohibit the cross-examination of victims by their abusers in family courts, will introduce new Domestic Abuse Protection Notices and Domestic Abuse Protection Orders to provide better protection for victims, and will establish the role of a Domestic Abuse Commissioner, among various other things. You can read more about what the bill will change here.
But for the people of Northern Ireland, this bill will also signal the introduction of coercive control as a crime. Despite having been illegal in England and Wales since the end of 2015 (Scotland followed on a few years later, making it a crime in 2018), Northern Ireland has been lagging behind in criminalising emotional abuse.
Coercive control is defined as ongoing psychological behaviour, rather than isolated or unconnected incidents, often with the purpose of removing a victim's freedom.
Some signs of coercive control include malicious name calling or bullying behaviour, unreasonable demands followed up by threats, financial control and isolation from friends, family or colleagues. You can read all the signs in more detail here.
Claire Sugden, Northern Ireland's ex-Justice Minister, who had long campaigned for the law to be updated to include coercive control, has described the move as "a huge success for victims and survivors of domestic abuse.
"My heart is bursting," she wrote on Twitter.
For the Domestic Abuse Bill to become officially enshrined in law, it will have to go through two further readings in the House of Commons, then three readings in the House of Lords - at which point MPs and Lords respectively can debate it and table any concerns - before it gets the Royal Assent. But it's on its way!
For more information and support related to domestic abuse, visit Women's Aid's website or call the Freephone 24-hour National Domestic Violence Helpline, run by Women’s Aid in partnership with Refuge, on 0808 2000 247.
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