The criminalisation of coercive control: Implications for defendants with neurodevelopmental and cognitive disorders

Abstract

New South Wales and Queensland have recently criminalised coercive control. Scholarship surrounding these reforms highlights the potentially negative effects on different sections of the community, with a focus on victim-survivors. However, the implications of the reforms for defendants with neurodevelopmental and cognitive disorders has been neglected. This article describes some of the issues the courts may face in dealing with defendants with neurodevelopmental and cognitive disorders, as a result of the criminalisation of coercive control. Further, it reinforces the importance of adequate disability education and training for all key justice system stakeholders, to improve the effectiveness of the reforms in practice.