Recently, there have been calls to criminalise coercive control across Australia. Coercive control, a term used to describe the ongoing non-physical forms of domestic violence, has serious impacts on a victim and their ‘independence, well-being and safety. It is the most common risk factor leading up to an intimate partner homicide. This session will discuss coercive control, its impact and the criminal law challenges associated with addressing this form of domestic violence.

Speakers

Professor Heather Douglas,

Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne

Heather Douglas joined Melbourne Law School in 2021 and teaches and researches in the area of criminal law and procedure. Her expertise on legal responses to domestic and family violence is internationally recognised and she co-ordinates the National Domestic and Family Violence Bench Book. Heather is currently working on an Australian Research Council funded research project exploring the application of non-fatal strangulation offences. She was an Australian Research Council Future Fellow from 2015-2019 and her project explored women’s engagements with the legal system as part of their response to domestic and family violence. Her book, based on her Future Fellowship research, Women, Intimate Partner Violence and the Law, is published this week by Oxford University Press.

Professor Felicity Gerry QC

Libertas Chambers, London and Crockett Chambers, Melbourne, Professor of Legal Practice, Deakin University

Professor Felicity Gerry QC is an international QC at Libertas Chambers, London and Crockett Chambers, Melbourne where she largely defends in serious and complex criminal trials and appeals, often with an international element. She is admitted to the lists of counsel for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague and in England & Wales and in Australia (Victoria and the High Court Roll) and has had ad hoc admission in Hong Kong and Gibraltar. She has a particular research interest in women and the criminal law and reforming justice systems and has published research on human trafficking, modern slavery and coercion and compulsion as a criminal defence. Felicity is also Professor of Legal Practice at Deakin University where she lectures in MLL419/MLJ728 Contemporary International Legal Challenges – topics have included Modern Slavery Law, Terrorism Law, War Crimes and Climate Change law and she is involved in the clinical programs.

Dr Marie Segrave

Associate Professor in Criminology, Monash Arts

Marie Segrave is an Associate Professor in Criminology at Monash University. She works with the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, and the Monash Migration and Inclusion Centre. Her research is focused on the intersections of migration, borders, exploitation and abuse. She has published widely on trafficking and slavery-related offences in this context, as well as family and domestic violence in the context of temporary migration.

Chair: Dr Natalia Antolak-Saper

Transnational Criminal Law Group, Monash Law

Natalia Antolak-Saper is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, Monash University. Natalia graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Criminology, and a Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours. She completed her professional training with Lander & Rogers Lawyers, and was admitted to practice as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria and of the High Court of Australia.

In 2012 she received an Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship and commenced her PhD which examined the extent to which the media impacts upon sentencing policy. In 2017, she was a Visiting Scholar at the William and Mary Law School, Williamsburg, USA. She has published articles on diverse topics including directed verdicts, bail conditions, and gambling regulation. She teaches criminal law and trusts in the LLB and JD programs at Monash. Her research areas are in comparative criminal law and procedure with a particular focus on unrepresented accused, sentencing and the death penalty.

Event Partners

This seminar may be eligible to be credited towards your CPD. Please visit the Law Institute of Victoria's Legal Compliance website for further information.

Contact us

E-Mail: law-engagement@monash.edu