MORE Islanders are coming forward with concerns of coercive and controlling behaviour now that it is considered a criminal offence, according to the head of the service which supports victims of domestic abuse.
Sarah Hamon, the service manager at Jersey Domestic and Sexual Abuse Support, added that she expected a report from the Violence Against Women and Girls Taskforce, due to be released on Friday, to recommend how “the criminal justice process” for domestic abuse offences could be improved.
Those recommendations, she said, would include changing the way that “special measures” are provided to victims in court to make the process less intimidating and detailing specific offences such as non-fatal strangulation.
Coercive and controlling behaviour, which was criminalised in the UK in 2015, only became an offence in Jersey in June when a new law came into force.
The crime refers to a case where someone is made dependent or subordinate to another or is isolated, controlled, regulated or restricted.
The new legislation also classes domestic abuse as a specific offence in which both parties are personally connected, they are aged 16 or over and, on more than one occasion, one person has been abusive to another.
It is punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment and an unlimited fine.
Home Affairs Minister Helen Miles previously said the legislation – which first received backing from States Members in April 2022 – was a “critical step forward in addressing domestic abuse in Jersey”.
While it is too early to have seen any convictions from the new law, Mrs Hamon said that its introductions had increased Islanders’ inclination to contact both the States police and JDAS seeking guidance around coercive control.
She said: “There has been a probable increase in people reporting concerns around coercive control that they previously wouldn’t have.
“That relates both to our clients and people on behalf of clients coming to us and seeking help and support for those situations.”
She added: “We have started to give more initial advice to those people, talking about basic safety measures and giving them some digital tips around potential stalking or monitoring. It might be that we recommend them approaching the police if we need to confirm whether there’s criminality or not.
“We might also give someone guidance and advice on keeping a record of any unwanted contacts for a harassment type of offence.”
Speaking about the upcoming release of the VAWG report, she said: “There will be some recommendations in that report around the criminal justice process and how we can improve it. We’ve got a way to go, but there are some specific recommendations that will help make the process more victim-focused.”
For example, Mrs Hamon explained, victims of these offences are eligible for “special measures” in court, designed to help make them feel less intimidated and more comfortable.
Such measures could include screens in court, giving testimony through a video link or having intermediaries and communication aids in court.
Mrs Hamon said: “We’ve got some work to do around the approach taken by the court. At the moment, it’s all a bit of a lottery and not always victim-focused. Which special measures might be available to a victim are very much decided on a case-by-case basis.
“In Jersey, we start from a position of ‘we’re not going to do it unless we have a really good reason to do it’, whereas in other jurisdictions, they start from a point of ‘this is what’s available to you, unless there’s a reason why you shouldn’t have that’.”
Part of JDAS’s work – as well as referring its clients to support available in the Island – is to advocate for victims to receive special measures.
Mrs Hamon continued: “The Home Affairs Minister is very aware of some of the things that we don’t have in the legislation. We also have non-fatal strangulation as an offence in itself, which the UK does have. There is research indicating that being grabbed about the neck causes significant neurological complications and can even lead to long-term and fatal damage. That happens in a greater number of cases than would people expect.”
