Controlling behaviour is a way for the perpetrator to maintain dominance over you. It is often subtle, almost always insidious, and pervasive.
They will often try and monitor everything another does, offline and online, minimise in order to restrict their access to support and help.
As of 1st January 2019, coercive control is a criminal offence. If you or someone you know is experiencing coercive control, call us on .
Section 39 of the new Domestic Violence Act 2018 sets out that:
Coercive behaviour has “a serious effect” if the “relevant person” – that is an intimate partner – fears that violence will be used against them or if it causes serious alarm or distress that has a “substantial adverse impact on a usual day to day activities”.
This new law makes coercive control more serious precisely because it relates to tactics used by an intimate partner – a spouse, non-spouse or civil partner – now or in the past.
