The propensity to control

Non-sexual violence as probative of sexual offending in the intimate partner context

Bibliographic Data

ID6456908
AuthorsCaccia Armstrong (University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand), Anna High (0000-0002-8884-6064, University of Otago, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume29
Issue1
Pages20-40
Publication date2024-03-15
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe International Journal of Evidence & Proof (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1365-7127 • E-ISSN: 1740-5572
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/13657127241237884
OpenAlexW4392864802
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited16

This article explores, with reference to four recent New Zealand appellate court decisions, the use of evidence of prior non-sexual offending by a defendant against the same complainant offered to prove sexual offence charges. Such ‘relationship propensity evidence’ can be particularly crucial for explaining the defendant–complainant dynamic in cases involving intimate partner violence. However, in some cases, courts have applied traditional common law ‘similar fact’ notions of linkage and coincidence to exclude evidence of non-sexual offending in relation to sexual charges. We argue that this is an unsatisfactory outcome that is largely resultant from the governing provision being designed to assess similar fact reasoning. Rather, we submit that in the context of intimate partner violence, seemingly discrete and unrelated forms of violence should be understood as potentially linked by the underpinning dynamic of coercive control. This shift in characterisation of varying forms of violence—from discrete and dissimilar to connected by a dynamic of coercive control—will result in a more flexible approach to the cross-admissibility of relationship propensity evidence in appropriate cases, including when it comes to offering evidence of physical violence as probative of sexual offending

Context (archaeology · Criminology · Domestic violence · Geography · Intimate partner · Medical emergency · Poison control · Sexual assault · Sexual violence · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Intimate Partner and Family Violence · Medicine · Psychology · Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies · Social Psychology

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