Abstract
The criminal law traditionally has focused exclusively on physical violence and some forms of financial wrongdoing. The recent interest in non-physical abuse has led to consideration of how this harm also might be addressed. Currently, much domestic abuse—including economic and psychological abuse—is indirectly criminalised via breaches of civil orders. This chapter investigates whether that abuse can, is and should also be directly criminalised through stalking laws, particularly in the context of an ongoing intimate relationship where the partners are cohabitating. In doing so, we discuss the broader issue of whether these laws constitute an adequate mechanism for dealing with non-physical abuse. We conclude that although stalking provisions can be used to prosecute non-physical domestic violence, restricted community and expert understandings of stalking suggest that the enactment of a domestic abuse-specific offence is a more appropriate solution to comprehensively deal with this form of abuse.
An earlier version of Chap. 5 was published in the Melbourne University Law Review. We are grateful to the editors for permission to publish.
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Legislation
Crimes Act 1900 (NSW)
Crimes Act 1958 (Vic)
Crimes Act 1900 (ACT)
Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW)
Criminal Code 1899 (Qld)
Criminal Code RSC 1985
Criminal Code Act 1997 (NT)
Criminal Code Act 1924 (Tas)
Criminal Code Amendment Act 1994 (WA)
Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 (SA)
Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1913 (WA)
Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 (Scot)
Domestic Violence Act 2018 (IR)
Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 (Qld)
Domestic and Family Violence Act (NT)
Domestic Violence Act 1995 (NZ)
Family Law Act 1996 (UK)
Family Violence Act 2016 (ACT)
Family Violence Act 2004 (Tas)
Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (Vic)
Harassment Act 1997 (NZ)
Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act 2009 (SA)
Personal Safety Intervention Orders Act 2010 (Vic)
Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (UK).
Restraining Orders Act 1997 (WA)
Serious Crime Act 2015 (E&W)
Cases
Amalgamated Society of Engineers v Adelaide Steamship Co Ltd (1920) 28 CLR 129
Barton v Armstrong (1969) 2 NSWR 451
Director of Public Prosecutions v Withers [1975] AC 842
Grey v Pearson (1857) 6 HL Cas 61
Knuller v Director of Public Prosecutions [1973] AC 435
Mills v Meeking (1990) 169 CLR 214
Ostrowski v Palmer (2004) 218 CLR 493
Phillips v Police [2016] SASC 135
R v GSH [2000] EWCA Crim 93
R v Barking Youth Court ex p B (Unreported, England and Wales High Court, Rose LJ and Forbes J, 27 July 1999)
R v Curtis [2010] EWCA Crim 123
R v Dhaliwal [2006] EWCA Crim 1139
R v Dunn [2001] Crim LR 130
R v Hills [2001] 1 FLR 580
R v Lavender (2005) 222 CLR 67, 96
R v Miller [1954] 2 All ER 529
R v Regos (1947) 74 CLR 613 at 624
R v Rogerson (1992) 174 CLR 268
R v Widdows [2011] EWCA Crim 1500
Wodrow v Commonwealth of Australia (1993) 45 FCR 52
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McMahon, M., McGorrery, P., Burton, K. (2020). An Alternative Means of Prosecuting Non-Physical Domestic Abuse: Are Stalking Laws an Under-Utilised Resource?. In: McMahon, M., McGorrery, P. (eds) Criminalising Coercive Control . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0653-6_5
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