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As of June 2024, . Introduced by NDP MP Laurel Collins, Bill C-332 is an amendment to the Criminal Code that would criminalize coercive control in intimate relationships.

Coercive control by one partner through tactics of domination, isolation, manipulation, intimidation and fear. Many victims and survivors of coercive control have highlighted its insidious nature and how it's often invisible to those outside of the family.

"using or attempting to use or threatening to use violence against certain persons, coercing or attempting to coerce the intimate partner to engage in sexual activity or engaging in other conduct that could reasonably be expected to believe that their safety, or the safety of a person known to them is threatened." The proposed legislation calls for a prison term of up to 10 years for anyone convicted of coercive control.

At first blush, the prospect of criminalizing coercive control seems positive. Through the creation and implementation of a uniform response, criminalization would indicate by authorities. It signals to the public that coercive control is unacceptable and is being addressed by policymakers and the criminal justice system.

Mandatory charging

These arguments in favor of criminalization are familiar. They're similar to the arguments supporting the criminalization of intimate partner violence through mandatory charging policies that were . These policies require police to lay charges in cases where there are reasonable grounds to believe that an assault has occurred at the scene of a domestic dispute.

Mandatory charging policies also had seemingly benevolent intentions aimed at acknowledging the severity of intimate partner violence and that it was no longer a private matter but, instead, a crime.

However, in some cases, mandatory charging policies have been harmful to the victim-survivors they were intended to protect, . Specifically, . This criminalization primarily occurs as the result of women's defensive violence, which is often not recognized as defensive given the justice system's incident-based nature.

Additionally, mandatory charging policies have been exceptionally harmful for , and . They often face additional barriers, including racism and discrimination from those working in the criminal justice system, fears of police, concerns regarding deportation or language barriers.

The criminalization of coercive control could face the same unanticipated outcomes.

Women who are victims or survivors of intimate partner violence have detailed how mandatory charging policies have been weaponized against them by their violent partners. Some women have described , while other women have said their partners .

Systemic risk factors

There are multiple reasons why criminalizing coercive control could face the same challenges that have plagued mandatory charging policies for the past four decades. Here are three:

1. Patriarchal justice system. Like many other societal institutions and systems, . This means that legislation and the judicial framework at large reflects patriarchal values and norms, upholding male dominance. As a result, women's needs and realities when they experience intimate partner violence will continue to be unconsidered, unacknowledged or distrusted.
2. Gender-neutral policies. Like mandatory charging policies, coercive control policies are gender-neutral, which . Gender neutrality also disregards the reality of intimate partner violence, .
3. Criminalized survivors. With mandatory charging policies, it became simple to blur the line between offenders and victims, and, given the tactics used by intimate partner violence perpetrators, they often found a way to turn this to their advantage. A significant concern regarding criminalizing coercive control is that women's protective behaviors—especially when it comes to their children—could be used against them by abusers, in concert with the patriarchal criminal justice system, to portray women as offenders. resulting in serious impacts on women and their children across various systems, including criminal law, family law and child welfare. This is seen, for example, during custody hearings that delve into the discredited but still powerful and salient idea of "parental alienation."

The system is already failing women who have been affected by intimate partner violence, and , additional criminalization through criminalizing coercive control is not the solution.

In addressing intimate partner violence, scholars have suggested the implementation of trauma- and violence-informed care (TVIC), like mandatory charging policies that perpetuate harm. .

, and as mandatory charging policies have shown, a solely criminal justice-based approach to intimate partner violence—without acknowledging the broader social context in which gender-based violence occurs—will likely continue to harm victim-survivors.

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