Law Reform in the Victim Space: Coercion and Control

Presented by Kati Kraszlan, Commissioner for Victims of Crime.

Please join us for our first dinner seminar to be held on the beautiful grounds of UWA at the University Club of Western Australia.

Price: $60 per head, includes two course dinner and seminar.
Please advise of any dietary requirements when booking your ticket. Cash bar will be available to purchase drinks on the night.

When Rowan Baxter murdered Hannah Clark and her three children in February 2020 coercive control became a subject of intense media and public interest. The interest was furthered through the strong advocacy of Jess Hill and many March 4 Women’s Justice movements. Yet the concept of coercive control is not new and many practitioners in the family and domestic violence sector have been reporting the damaging and dangerous nature of coercive control for years. Public understanding of the concept has lagged behind and this can at least be partly attributed to the criminal justice system focusing on domestic violence as a series of physically violent incidents. For the victims of coercion and control recognition of the severity of the behaviour and its impact on them is paramount.

The Office of the Commissioner for Victims of Crime is currently conducting a state-wide consultation process on how the law and the legal system in Western Australia responds to coercive control. But coercive control is complex. It intersects with many other issues including trauma, mental health, and addictions. The question of whether to criminalise coercive control is also complex and legal responses alone are not the solution.

This informative and interactive discussion will focus on the complexities of coercion and control, issues to be covered include what would be the role of psychologists and psychiatrists if it was to be criminalised, how do we assess such behaviour for both victims and for perpetrators and what could be the difficulties, from legal perspectives, in obtaining successful prosecutions.

Please click here to purchase your ticket.