Coercive Control Is a Crime — The Family Court Must Catch Up

Deanna Newell
Jun 26
3 min read

Serious Crime Act 2015 – Section 76

Section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 makes it a criminal offence to repeatedly or continuously engage in controlling or coercive behaviour towards an intimate partner or family member.

This isn’t “just emotional abuse”. It’s against the law.

What Is Coercive or Controlling Behaviour?

Controlling behaviour

Actions designed to make someone dependent, isolated, or submissive — like restricting finances, monitoring movements, or cutting off access to work, friends, or support.

Coercive behaviour

Threats, humiliation, intimidation, emotional blackmail — anything that breaks someone’s will or forces them to comply against their wishes.

To qualify under Section 76, behaviour must be:-

Repeated or continuous
Have a serious effect, in the context of an intimate or family relationship, i.e.;-
- Causing fear of violence on two or more occasions, or
- Causing serious alarm or distress that impacts day-to-day life

Why It Matters in Family Court

The law is clear: coercive control is criminal.

But in family court?

It’s still too often ignored, minimised, or misunderstood — especially in contact disputes.

Section 76 becomes critical when:-

A parent has faced long-term emotional, psychological, or financial abuse
A child’s emotional safety and attachment are at risk
Protective measures like supervised or restricted contact are being considered

Family courts must recognise the pattern — not just isolated incidents.

What Coercive Control Looks Like

Coercive control — formally recognised under Section 76 — can include:=

Ongoing manipulation and gaslighting
Isolation from support networks
Financial control, intimidation, surveillance
Emotional blackmail and compliance under fear
Using children as leverage or weapons

This is not a “high-conflict separation.”. This is abuse.

And the law is supposed to protect victims from it.

Why Coercive Control Is a Growing Concern

Public awareness is rising. Survivors are speaking out. Legal definitions have shifted.

But here’s the problem - Recognition in criminal law hasn’t yet filtered into private family proceedings — where it often matters most.

Coercive control is:-

Patterned abuse
Subtle, chronic, escalating
Devastating to victims — and to children exposed to it

And it’s alarmingly common, especially after separation.

The Hidden Toll on Children

Children subjected to this dynamic may:-

Become anxious, shut down, or hypervigilant
Struggle with emotional regulation — especially those with autism or additional needs
Learn toxic patterns about power, love, and fear
Be used as tools for abuse through contact, communication, or legal threats

This isn’t parenting. It’s post-separation abuse — and it harms children deeply.

Family Courts Must Catch Up

Right now, family courts:-

Prioritise contact over context
Focus on “incidents,” not patterns
View coercion as a couple issue, not a parenting red flag

But here is the truth:

A parent who manipulates, controls, and degrades their ex cannot be safely co-parenting.
We must stop separating abuse against the parent from harm to the child.

They are two sides of the same trauma.

What Needs to Change

Family courts must:-

Train judges and CAFCASS to recognise patterns, not just “flashpoints”
Treat coercive control like the criminal offence it is
Listen to children — especially those expressing distress or fear
Make safe contact, not automatic contact, the standard
Stop demanding performative “co-parenting” from survivors of abuse

You’re Not Alone

If you have experienced coercive control and been dismissed in court, you are not imagining it.

You are not “difficult.”

You are not “alienating.”

You’re protecting your children in a system that still too often protects your abuser.

At Deanna Newell Family Law, we’re fighting to bring coercive control to the forefront of family justice. Because silence serves the abuser — not the child.

Deanna Newell Family Law

Advocacy for truth-tellers, survivors, and the children who deserve better