The future of criminalizing of coercive control
We’ve spent a lot of time engaged around the possible criminalization of coercive control over the last several years. Most recently, this involved appearing before Senate and House Committees and providing written briefs in their study of Bill C-332. However, with the recent prorogation of the federal government, that Bill has died.
A recent article by Maddi Dellplain for Healthy Debate further explores the possible criminalization of coercive control. This article features Andrea Silverstone (CEO of Sageese) and Pamela Cross (feminist lawyer, member of Ontario’s Domestic Violence Death Review Committee and former Luke’s Place Advocacy Director).
Why is there controversy around criminalizing coercive control?
Controversy around criminalizing coercive control often centres on the potential for unintended negative consequences for victims. One potential unintended consequence is creating another tool for abusers to use against victims.
“A clever abuser can create a situation where he can convince the police that it’s the victim who has been engaging in coercive control and then she ends up being the one to potentially face charges.”
For women navigating family court after leaving abuse, this could create unwanted complications. As Cross argues, “…an abuser could attempt to use an acquittal in Criminal Court to their advantage in Family Court. ‘[Despite the fact that I’m in] Family Court describing 10 years of a variety of abusive behaviours, that acquittal in Criminal Court is going to interfere with my claims in Family Court.’”
What makes criminalizing coercive control so challenging? As Cross states, “With coercive control, there’s often nothing to show for it in a criminal kind of way, so I think we’re going to see a lot of not guilty findings and that’s going to get dragged into Family Court. Not because that’s what the law says but because we aren’t as a society well enough educated [around this issue].”
Looking ahead
Both Cross and Silverstone suspect that a new bill to address coercive control will be introduced in Canada. Both hope that next time, it will be introduced as a government bill, rather than a private member’s bill (a government bill would include a clause for funding which is important for successful implementation).
“We’re talking about a much more insidious, much more hidden kind of abuse. We need to set the social context; we can’t just write a new law and hope that everybody can figure out what it means.”
Read the full article by Maddi Dellplain for Healthy Debate.
