COERCIVE CONTROL IS ...
MURDER IN SLOW MOTION
(Source: Laura Richards, Criminal Analyst and Coercive Control Expert responsible for changing laws about Coercive Control and stalking)
Terror and unpredictability are the baseline of daily life.
In many cases, coercive control ends not in escape, but in murder.
Women and children around the world are being killed in
predictable and preventable patterns of coercive control every day
Some victims are eventually killed. Others are slowly erased: mentally, emotionally, socially, legally.
THE FOUNDATION OF ALL DOMESTIC ABUSE
Experts now agree that domestic violence is not defined by physical injury
it is defined by COERCIVE CONTROL.
Coercive control is not just one type of abuse — it is the system beneath all abuse:
the ongoing pattern of domination and fear
designed to erode the victim's freedom, autonomy, and safety
OPPRESSION. LOSS OF FREEDOM. LOSS OF HUMAN RIGHTS. INEQUALITY
When all signs of independence are punished
and survival depends on avoiding retaliation
every choice is shaped by fear — not freedom
and autonomy agency and identity are erased.
dependency. Deprivation of resources. DEPRIVATION OF NEEDS.
Deprivation is used to obstruct the ability to
resist, escape, or recover
By eliminating access to money, help, rest, support or any basic or extended need,
the victim becomes trapped in a life of survival with no exit.
ISOLATION. degradation. HUMILIATION. REPUTATION DESTRUCTION.
Degradation breaks the victim internally.
Reputation destruction isolates her externally.
Together, they dismantle her ability to fight back, seek help, or rebuild.
Retaliation, Escalation and Punishment
Victims live under constant threat of harm and chronic fear of retaliation
leading to hyper vigilance and submission
and resulting in the erasure of freedom, identity, and autonomy.
DOMESTIC TERRORISM
“It’s not a fight. It’s not conflict. It’s a regime of entrapment — a kind of domestic terrorism.”
– Dr. Evan Stark, “Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life”
Unpredictability creates psychological captivity
Systemic use of terror and unpredictability is used to dominate and force submission
KIDNAPPING, HOSTAGE TAKING, psychological captivity
“Coercive control is not about violence. It’s about creating a hostage-like condition in the home in which the victim becomes trapped in a world of fear, surveillance, and subjugation
"Coercive Control installs a regime of entrapment
— a liberty crime that destroys the person’s freedom, not just their safety. "
"harms it inflicts on their dignity, liberty, autonomy, personhood, and physical and psychological integrity"
Its invisibility to outsiders makes it even more dangerous.
CALCULATED regime of total domination.
Victims are entrapped and stripped of
Freedom, Support Systems, Autonomy, Identity, Safety
Through surveillance, retaliation, and unpredictability, the victim’s thoughts, choices, and movements
are all shaped by fear — not freedom,
to serve the coercive controller's needs
A GLOBAL PANDEMIC
In 92% of domestic femicides, coercive control was present in the relationship prior to the murder.
in 2022, globally 137 women were killed by a family member every day (48,800 women)
In the US, 3 women are killed every day by a current or former intimate partner
In Canada, 1 woman is killed every 3.6 days by a current or former intimate partner.
Invasive monitoring, surveillance and stalking
traps a victim
in a state of total terror, control, submission, and life constriction
ENTRAPMENT - WHY DOESN'T SHE JUST LEAVE?
76% of intimate partner femicides – and the majority of filicide and familicides –
occur during separation and custody disputes
Source: Dr. Evan Stark, “Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life
Coercive control is a trap — not a relationship.
an inescapable web of coercive tactics including:
fear, financial dependence, isolation, deprivation of resources, destruction of identity, support and reputation —
threats and intimidation, threats to take or harm her children, surveillance, legal intimidation, fear of retaliationand the very real risk of being killed if she tries to leave,
... VIOLENCE
Total domination and destruction of freedom, safety, and identity
through power, control and terror
without needing to leave a mark
Post Separation Abuse Wheel
(Source: One Mom's Battle - Tina Swithin)
Biderman’s Chart of Coercion
Reveals how prisoners of war were psychologically broken
through the same methods of coercive control used in family violence
– a system of domination designed to strip a person of freedom, identity, and the will to resist –
Children are both direct and indirect victims of coercive control.
Children are also often the most powerful tool of coercion the abuser uses against the protective parent.
Coercive Control Is Legally Recognized as Family Violence in Canadian Law
Divorce Act 2021
Department of Justice Canada — “Coercive Control and the Divorce Act: A Fact Sheet” (2021).
ONLY LIGHT CAN DRIVE OUT DARKNESS
adapted from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.