Incredible Women: Legal Systems Abuse, Coercive Control, and the Credibility of Victim-Survivors.

Reeves, Ellen ORCID: 0000-0001-7550-5503, Fitz-Gibbon, Kate ORCID: 0000-0001-5415-7001, Meyer, Silke and Walklate, Sandra (2023) Incredible Women: Legal Systems Abuse, Coercive Control, and the Credibility of Victim-Survivors. Violence against women. 10778012231220370-.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10778012231220370

Abstract

Research has long demonstrated that victim-survivors of intimate partner violence face barriers to being believed when they seek help via the legal system and are simultaneously at risk of their abuser weaponizing the legal system against them. This article draws on the experiences of 54 women victim-survivors of coercive control in Australia who had experienced legal systems abuse within criminal and civil protection order systems. Drawing on feminist legal theory, we highlight that the legal system continues to disbelieve women and validate abusers. These experiences hold implications for victim-survivor views on the merits and risks of criminalizing coercive control.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	civil protection orders, coercive control, criminal legal system, feminist legal theory, legal systems abuse
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Law and Social Justice
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	19 Dec 2023 14:56
Last Modified:	23 Dec 2023 01:57
DOI:	10.1177/10778012231220370
Open Access URL:	https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012231220370
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3177536