Abstract
More than a decade before the offences of controlling or coercive behaviour and domestic abuse were introduced in England and Wales, Ireland and Scotland, the parliament of Tasmania in Australia enacted the offences of economic abuse and emotional abuse of a person’s spouse or partner. The introduction of these novel provisions constituted a significant move away from criminal law conceptions of family violence that relied solely upon physical acts and, instead, recognised that the infliction of psychological and economic harm were core features of that violence. This chapter analyses the Tasmanian offences, identifying difficulties in their construction and exploring the reasons for their slow uptake. Analysis of prosecutions that have occurred reveals interesting patterns of offending starting to emerge that have implications for how the offences are prosecuted and how family violence is understood.
A significant portion of Chap. 7 is derived from an article in the University of Tasmania Law Review. We are grateful to the editors for permission to publish.
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Legislation
Acts Interpretation Act 1931 (Tas)
Criminal Code Act 1924 (Tas)
Evidence Act 2001 (Tas)
Evidence (Audio and Audio Visual Links) Act 1999 (Tas)
Evidence (Children and Witnesses) Act 2001 (Tas)
Family Violence Act 2004 (Tas)
Family Violence Amendment Act 2015 (Tas)
Justice Act 1959 (Tas)
Relationships Act 2003 (Tas)
Serious Crime Act 2015 (E&W)
Cases
Allen v Tasmania Police [2004] TASSC 30
Belbin v Bennett (2011) 218 A Crim R 42
Boughey v R (1986) 161 CLR 10
Campbell v Smith [2005] TASDT 7
Director of Public Prosecutions (Acting) v JCN [2015] TASFC 13
Gunes v Pearson (1996) 89 A Crim R 297
Hawkins v R (No 3) (1994) 76 A Crim R 47
Her Majesty’s Attorney-General v O [2004] TASSC 53
Howe v S [2013] TASMC 33
K v K [2012] TASMC 3
Kerrison v Buxton [2000] TASSC 15
McLean v Rundle [2011] TASMC (unreported, 4 November 2011)
R v Brown (1992) 73 CCC (3d) 242 (Alberta Court of Criminal Appeal)
R v Goldman [2004] VSC 165
Re S [2005] TASSC 89
Record of Investigation into Death (With Inquest) [2016] TASCD 217
Simpson v R [1996] TASSC 137
Tame v New South Wales (2002) 211 CLR 317
Tasmania v Farmer [2004] TASSC 104
Tasmania v Finnegan (No 2) [2012] TASSC 1
Thomas v Stewart [2017] TASMC (unreported, 4 September 2017)
Wilkinson v R [1985] TASSC 43
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Barwick, K., McGorrery, P., McMahon, M. (2020). Ahead of Their Time? The Offences of Economic and Emotional Abuse in Tasmania, Australia. In: McMahon, M., McGorrery, P. (eds) Criminalising Coercive Control . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0653-6_7
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