Allowing a Defence to Those Who Commit Crime Under Coercive Control
| Author | Amy Elkington |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00220183211050570 |
| Published date | 01 October 2022 |
| Date | 01 October 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Allowing a Defence to Those Who
Commit Crime Under Coercive
Control
Amy Elkington
University of Chichester, UK
Abstract
Abused women who are coerced to commit crime have no adequate legal defence.
Historically, martial coercion may have been pled, but since its repeal and lack of replacement,
abused women have been left without adequate protection in the criminal justice system.
Duress would seem to be the logical defence in such a situation, but its construction by the
courts means that women are still left with no defence. If a woman resists the coercion to
commit crime, and instead protects herself against the abuse, she will equally have no suitable
defence. Parliament were presented with the opportunity to rectify this problem when passing
Commons. Whilst research shows that crime committed under coercive control is not an
insignificant problem, the current law does not protect some of the most vulnerable from
prosecution.
Keywords
Introduction
Women’s Justice
1
have once again brought attention to the issue of whether the law adequately protects
abused women
2
by providing a defence to those who commit crime under coercion from their violent
Corresponding author:
Amy Elkington, University of Chichester, NH229, College Lane, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 6PE, UK.
E-mail: a.elkington@chi.ac.uk
1. S Howes, ‘Women Who Kill: How The State Criminalises Women We Might Otherwise Be Burying’(Centre for Women’s
Justice, 17 February 2021)
1613404821139/CWJ_WomenWhoKill_Rpt_WEB-3+small.pdf> accessed 27 July 2021.
2. The term ‘woman’is used throughout as according to Home Office, ‘Review of the Controlling or Coercive Behaviour Offence’,
(Gov UK, 1 March 2021)
offence> accessed 29 June 2021 at 14, data shows that year on year women constitute 93–94% of the victims in police
recorded instances of coercive control and controlling behaviour. Furthermore, data from the Office for National Statistics,
Article
The Journal of Criminal Law
2022, Vol. 86(5) 295–307
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/00220183211050570
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