Looking Beyond Domestic Violence: Policing Coercive Control

The current policy, legal, and criminal justice response to partner abuse is based on a “violent incident model” that equates abuse with discrete assaults and gauges severity by the degree of injury inflicted or threatened. Although application of this model by police has reduced serious and fatal partner violence, it has not significantly improved the long-term prospects of battered women. This article argues that the limited effectiveness of the criminal justice response stems less from failures in policing than from a large gap that separates the violent incident model guiding the current response from the pattern of coercive control that drives most victims to seek police or other outside assistance. This article identifies the flawed assumptions that underlie the violent incident model, shows why application of this model by law enforcement has failed abused women, describes the pattern of coercive control research shows to be typical of abusive relationships, and outlines how adapting the coercive control model would improve the police response.