Coercive Control Offences (Qld)
In 2024, the Queensland government passed the Criminal Law (Coercive Control and Affirmative Consent) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024. The changes aim to better protect victims of family violence and sexual assault. This page outlines the new standalone offence of coercive control in Queensland.
Coercive control offence
Under section 334C of the Criminal Code 1900, it is now an offence for an adult to:
- be in a domestic relationship with another person; and
- engage in a course of conduct that consists of domestic violence on more than one occasion; and
- intends the course of conduct to coerce or control the other person; and
- the course of conduct would be reasonably likely to cause the other person harm.
This offence has a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment.
Assessing coercive control
A person may be found guilty of the offence of coercive control regardless of whether they caused any actual harm to the other person. If the offence consists of a course of conduct of unreasonable surveillance or economic abuse, it is irrelevant whether the other person was aware of the behaviour.
What is domestic violence?
Domestic violence includes physical and sexual abuse, emotional and psychological abuse, economic abuse, behaviour that is threatening or coercive, and behaviour that in any way controls or dominates the other person and makes them fear for a person’s wellbeing.
Domestic violence may be a single act or a series of acts and may occur over a period of time. It is to be assessed in the context of the relationship as a whole.
Section 334B of the Criminal Code 1899 provides a list of examples of behaviour that falls into the category of domestic violence.
What is a domestic relationship?
A domestic relationship includes:
- spousal relationships
- family relationship, such as parent and child or brother and sister
- informal care relationships where a person relies on another person for help with daily tasks (but not paid carers).
Restraining orders and coercive control proceedings
When a person is charged with coercive control, the court may make a restraining order against them if it considers it desirable that such an order be made.
A court may make a restraining order regardless of the outcome of the criminal proceeding.
The order will remain in force for a period of five years unless another period of time is stated.
Offence to aid person in domestic violence
Under section 179A of the Criminal Code 1899, it is now an offence for an adult to engage in domestic violence behaviour in relation to a person who is named in a domestic violence order so as to aid the respondent in the order. This offence carries a maximum penalty of imprisonment for three years.
This offence includes using another person to abuse or intimidate a person or to locate and surveil a person.
Community responses to coercive control provisions
The new offence in Queensland follows pressure on all state and territory governments to legislate against forms of family violence that are designed to hurt, humiliate, isolate or frighten a person and that were not adequately covered by the criminal law. Victim groups have long argued that controlling behaviour ought to be an offence in itself, with serious penalties attached in recognition of the serious harm it can cause.
However, coercive control provisions have also been criticised in several respects. Concern has been voiced that the offence may lead to victims mistakenly being identified as perpetrators; that the offence will be difficult to prove; and that police and other first responders may have trouble identifying the behaviour. It has also been argued that victims of coercive control may be reluctant to engage with police investigations out of fear that this may cause the abuse to escalate or that they will be blamed for the conduct.
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