Change to the legal definition of violence
January 30, 2010 by admin
Filed under Family Law News
A REPORT on family law recommends a change to the legal definition of violence to encompass behaviour that is “economically abusive”, threatening or coercive.
The report, by the Family Law Council, says changes made to the Family Law Act (1975) by the Howard government narrowed the definition of violence and was “conservative in its drafting”.
The review was one of three reports released this week on family law, one of which warned that women and children were at a greater risk of violence, The Australian reports.
The Family Law Council report said the definition of violence in the act was in “some ways reminiscent of the common law definition of assault”.
“It is questionable whether it encompasses the debilitating psychological abuse by controlling conduct,” the report says.
It argues that the definition of family violence should be amended to encompass behaviour that is not only physically or sexually abusive, but also economically abusive, threatening, coercive, “or in any other way controls or dominates” the other party.
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