The Criminalization of Coercive Control in Canada: Conceptualizations, Cautions, and Caveats

This paper critically examines whether criminalizing coercive control in Canada would improve legal responses to intimate partner violence or reproduce/perpetuate the "ideal victim" trap. Using Evan Stark's conceptualization of coercive control and Nils Christie's "ideal victim" concept as lenses, we conduct a theory-informed case study of two landmark self-defence cases to examine the sociolegal recognition of coercive control. Despite expanded discourse, the decisions largely remained incident-centered. We argue for a trauma and violence-informed approach (building on the work of Wathen & Varcoe), and, should coercive control be criminalized, we recommend delaying implementation until adequate cross-sector social service infrastructure is in place.