Controlling or Coercive Behaviour
What is Controlling or Coercive Behaviour?
Controlling and coercive behaviour is at the heart of domestic abuse. It is a deliberate and calculated pattern of behaviour and psychological abuse designed to isolate, manipulate and terrorise a victim into complete, fearful obedience.
The Government definition of coercive behaviour is:
Coercive behaviour is an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim.
Controlling behaviour is a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, whilst depriving them of the resources (such as money) needed for independence.
Useful questions
- Has your partner tried to keep you from seeing your friends or family?
- Has your partner prevented you or made it hard for you to continue or start studying, or from going to work?
- Does your partner constantly check up on you or follow you?
- Are you ever afraid of your partner?
- Has your partner ever hurt or threatened you or your children?
- Has your partner ever kept you short of money so you are unable to buy food or other necessary items for yourself and your children or made you take out loans?
- Has your partner ever tried to control you by telling you that you could be deported because of your immigration status?
- Has your partner ever tried to prevent you leaving the house?
Contacting Us
If you report a crime to Staffordshire Police, they will ask you if you are happy for your details to be passed on to the Staffordshire Victim Gateway and Restorative Justice Service. We will automatically receive your contact information and a brief overview of your experience and the crime, if you don’t specify to Staffordshire Police that you don’t want us to make contact with you. If you initially opted out of the service, you can self-refer at any time.
We can provide you with advice, information & emotional and practical support. We can liaise and advocate on your behalf, and introduce and support you to specialist services, who can help you gain the relevant support that can help in your recovery. We will be with you every step of the way. Our support is free and confidential, regardless of whether you have reported a crime or incident to the police, we are here to support you.
Crime Prevention Information
Additionally, it may also be useful for you to have advice on crime prevention that may help you to protect yourself in the future. You can find lots of useful information on local crime prevention by clicking here:
https://www.staffordshire.police.uk/cp/crime-prevention/