Digital Coercive Control: Insights From Two Landmark Domestic Violence Studies
This paper examines the use of digital technologies by domestic violence perpetrators, which we believe constitutes 'digital coercive control'. We draw on two Australian research projects and emerging research to provide definitional, conceptual and theoretical frames for harmful and invasive behaviours enacted through technology. Additionally, we highlight how such abuse intersects with other forms of violence but has unique and distinct features, including spacelessness. Spatiality is central in our examination, and we consider the spaceless yet geographically situated experiences of and risk faced by victim/survivors in regional, rural and remote locations. In the interests of empowering and protecting women, we also problematize victim-blaming and burdens of 'safety work' frequently imposed on women encountering digital coercive control.
Introduction: Locating Regional, Rural, and Remote Crime in Theoretical and Contemporary Context
The urban focus of crime- and street-based crime in particular- has for eons attracted the attention of criminologists. A geographic bias did not exist in all scholarly fields: anthropologists and geographers, for instance, gave greater consideration to issues and differences across locations (Donnermeyer 2014). Yet internationally, until the end of the 20th century, rural criminology "received little attention in the research literature beyond occasional descriptive glances" (Weisheit & Wells 1996, p 379; see also Barclay et al 2007; Coventry & Palmer 2008; Jobes et al 2000; Donnermeyer, Jobes & Barclay 2006). "One of the significant shortcomings of the criminological cannon", as Carrington, Donnermeyer and DeKeseredy (2014, p 464) identify, "has been its urban-centric bias': Internationally, Donnermeyer and DeKeseredy (2014, p 2) assert that "rural crime has ranked among the least studied social problems in criminology': Criminological literature has typically focused explicitly on the urban context or, at the very least, overlooked or downplayed contextual variances in geographic settings.
Technology-Facilitated Stalking and Unwanted Sexual Messages/Images in a College Campus Community: The Role of Negative Peer Support
Researchers have accumulated much social scientific knowledge about the scope, distribution, causes, and outcomes of the physical and sexual abuse of female students in North American institutions of higher learning. However, surveys of technology-facilitated stalking and the dissemination of unwanted sexual messages/images in college campus communities are in short supply. The few that have been conducted do not identify key sociological risk factors associated with these two electronic forms of victimization. This paper, then, has two objectives: (1) to examine the influence of two types of negative peer support and (2) to determine if being the target of technology-facilitated stalking and receiving unwanted sexual messages/images are associated with female students’ intimate partner violence and sexual assault experiences. The results confirm that the two variants of negative peer support examined in this study are significant predictors of digital victimization and that such abuse is strongly associated with intimate partner violence and sexual assault.
Spaceless violence: Women's experiences of technology-facilitated domestic violence in regional, rural and remote areas
Digital media and devices are increasingly used by perpetrators of interpersonal and domestic violence to enact harm, coerce and control. The ways that technology is used by perpetrators, victimsurvivors, support services and justice agencies have received growing attention in recent years. Work has been produced by advocates and academics in the United States (see Dimond, Fiesler & Bruckman 2011; Fraser et al. 2010; Mason & Magnet 2012; Southworth et al. 2005) and in Australia (Hand, Chung & Peters 2009; Woodlock 2017). There has been no examination of differences in the way harms manifest and are responded to in urban and non-urban (regional, rural and remote) landscapes (Harris 2016). This is a significant deficit, given the barriers encountered by victim–survivors beyond the cityscape when seeking assistance and responding to violence (Neilson & Renou 2015; Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence in Queensland 2015; State of Victoria 2016).
Technology facilitated coercive control: domestic violence and the competing roles of digital media platforms
This article describes domestic violence as a key context of online misogyny, foregrounding the role of digital media in mediating, coordinating, and regulating it; and proposing an agenda for future research. Scholars and anti-violence advocates have documented the ways digital media exacerbate existing patterns of gendered violence and introduce new modes of abuse, a trend highlighted by this special issue. We propose the term “technology facilitated coercive control” (TFCC) to encompass the technological and relational aspects of patterns of abuse against intimate partners. Our definition of TFCC is grounded in the understanding of domestic violence (DV) as coercive, controlling, and profoundly contextualised in relationship dynamics, cultural norms, and structural inequality. We situate TFCC within the multiple affordances and modes of governance of digital media platforms for amplifying and ameliorating abuse. In addition to investigating TFCC, scholars are beginning to document the ways platforms can engender counter-misogynistic discourse, and are powerful actors for positive change via the regulation and governance of online abuse. Accordingly, we propose four key directions for a TFCC research agenda that recognises and asks new questions about the role of digital media platforms as both facilitators of abuse and potential partners in TFCC prevention and intervention.
‘You Can’t Actually Escape It’: Policing the Use of Technology in Domestic Violence in Rural Australia
The abuse of technology by perpetrators of domestic violence is ‘spaceless’; however, in this article, we argue that experiences of and responses to digital coercive control are shaped by both the place (geographic location) and space (practical and ideological features of a location) that a victim/survivor and criminal justice agency occupy. We examined this issue by conducting interviews and focus groups with 13 female victim/survivors in regional, rural and remote Australia. All participants had contact with police as part of their help-seeking for domestic violence, and some suggested that officers sometimes paralleled perpetrator behaviours, resulting in a narrowing of women’s ‘space for action’. We conclude that, in the interests of protecting and empowering women, socio-spatial frameworks must be considered by practitioners and researchers, and there should be a concerted effort to expand resourcing and training for justice agencies beyond the cityscape.
Legitimate Spaces: Community Legal Centres and Police Accountability
In the 1970s, community legal centres (CLCs) - free, independent, community-based legal services - emerged as unique spaces. Traditional legal offices reflected and reinforced the exclusionary nature of the legal profession as places those without capital were unlikely to be able to access. In contrast, CLCs sought to provide legal advocacy for all and their design reflected the inclusive and empowering environment that workers promoted. The workers and their roles were also atypical. CLCs housed legal and non‐legal workers who offered legal information and representation, engaged in educative programs and embarked on law reform and campaigns designed to protect and promote human rights on an everyday 'street-based' level. In 2015, CLCs can still be identified as distinctly different spaces of law where workers transform the legal landscape, the ways citizenship is exercised and the criminal justice system is experienced. Premised on the assumption that 'space' is a forum where identities, philosophies and power are articulated and resisted, this paper draws on archival analysis and semi‐structured interviews, and uses a spatial framework to explore CLCs as spaces of police accountability.
Violent Landscapes: A Spatial Study of Family Violence
'Space' has a significant role in studies of interpersonal violence, also referred to as 'domestic violence' or, more inclusively, 'family violence': a term which encompasses violence that occurs within intimate relationships as well as violence which involves other members of a family structure. In sharp contrast to stereotypical images of the dangerous streets and the dangerous stranger (often associated with crime), family violence is characterised by the space in which it occurs, within the privacy and sanctity of the family home against and by those in the family unit.
The impact of rurality on women's 'space for action' in domestic violence: Findings from a meta-synthesis
Men's violence against women is a global human rights issue, with domestic violence one of the most common forms (World Health Organization, 2017). The consequences of domestic violence include detrimental effects on victim-survivors' health, well-being, and sense of safety. To understand these impacts, the concept of 'space for action' seeks to evaluate how perpetrators of domestic violence narrow women's life choices, constraining their freedom (Kelly, 2003). In this article, we build upon the concept of 'space for action' by examining if, and how, rural geographical space and place can be used by perpetrators to constrict women's options for escape, or even shape the violence itself. In conducting a meta-synthesis of 32 global studies, we found similarities in rural women's experiences of violence. Perpetrators used both geographical space and rural social norms to constrain women's space for action. In particular, geographical and social isolation were used to hold women in literal captivity. Rural communities were often experienced as shaming and ostracizing. This provided women with few opportunities to help-seek and aided perpetrators in reducing women's spaces for safety. Women's space for action was also curtailed in the realms of finance, employment, and their ability to care for their children. These findings demonstrate that geographical place and space can be used by perpetrators to narrow and limit women's space for action. As such, rurality should be included in understanding how men's violence limits women's freedoms.
Impact of the 'Yes, I Can!' adult literacy campaign on interactions with the criminal justice system
Low levels of literacy and education are often associated with negative interactions with and experiences of the criminal justice system. Low literacy also contributes to the over-representation of Indigenous Australians in the justice system. This paper examines service provider and criminal justice practitioner perspectives of the ‘Yes, I Can!’ adult literacy campaign. Interviews with 22 workers in regional New South Wales suggest that the majority believe the ‘Yes, I Can!’ program can potentially improve the type and frequency of interactions between Indigenous Australians and the criminal justice system. Overwhelmingly, participants viewed increasing literacy levels as key in empowering Indigenous Australians and enhancing encounters with criminal justice service providers. Further study and evaluation, including interviewing participants of the ‘Yes, I Can!’ campaign and community Elders, is of utmost importance.