Family violence is behaviour that controls or dominates a family member and causes them to fear for their own or another person’s safety or wellbeing.
It includes exposing a child to these behaviours, as well as their effects and impacts. Family violence presents across a spectrum of risk, ranging from subtle exploitation of power imbalances, through to escalating patterns of abuse over time.
As described throughout this Foundation Knowledge Guide, family violence is deeply gendered. While people of all genders can be perpetrators or victim survivors of family violence, overwhelmingly, perpetrators are men, who largely perpetrate violence against women (who are their current or former partner) and children.
However, family violence can occur in a range of ways across different relationship types and communities, including but not limited to the following:
- children and young people as victim survivors in their own right who have unique experiences, vulnerabilities and needs
- older peoples’ experiences of family violence, often described as elder abuse, from intimate partners, adult children or carers, or extended family members
- varying experiences of family violence for people from Aboriginal communities may occur in intimate relationships, other family relationships, from people outside of the Aboriginal community who are in intimate relationships with Aboriginal people, and violence in extended families, kinship networks and community violence, or lateral violence, within the Aboriginal community (often between Aboriginal families).It extends to one-on-one fighting, abuse of Aboriginal community workers, as well as self-harm, injury and suicide[11]
- experiences of family violence for people from diverse communities, including in intimate relationships, extended family networks community violence and violence from a family of origin.
The FVPA provides a broad definition of family violence and ‘family’ or ‘family-like’ relationships, as outlined below. Family violence takes a variety of forms and occurs in a range of relationships, including and outside of intimate, domestic partners. The Preamble to the FVPA also notes a range of features of family violence and its significant effects on individuals, communities and families.
8.1 How the Act defines family violence
The FVPA defines family violence as behaviour by a person towards a family member or person that is:
- physically or sexually abusive
- emotionally or psychologically abusive
- economically abusive
- threatening
- coercive
- in any other way controls or dominates the family member and causes that family member to feel fear for the safety or wellbeing of that family member or another person.
It also includes behaviour by a person that causes a child to hear or witness, or otherwise be exposed to the effects of behaviour referred to in these ways.
Examples of family violence that are referred to in the Act (s. 5(2)) include:
- assaulting or causing personal injury to a family member, or threatening to do so
- sexually assaulting a family member or engaging in another form of sexually coercive behaviour, or threatening to engage in such behaviour
- intentionally damaging a family member’s property, or threatening to do so
- unlawfully depriving a family member of their liberty or threatening to do so
- causing or threatening to cause the death of, or injury to, an animal, whether or not the animal belongs to the family member to whom the behaviour is directed, so as to control, dominate or coerce the family member.
Coercive control
Coercive control is recognised within the FVPA, where family violence is framed as ‘patterns of abuse over a period of time’, inclusive of behaviours that coerce, control and dominate family members.[12] Coercive control is central to the definition of family violence within Victoria and understanding of risk identification and assessment.
Coercive control is not a standalone form of family violence. The term reflects the pattern and underlying feature or dynamic created by a perpetrator’s tactics and use of family violence and its felt impact or outcome on victim survivors.[13] As a tactic, coercive control can include any combination of family violence behaviours (risk factors) used by a perpetrator to create a pattern or ‘system of behaviours’ intended to harm, punish, frighten, dominate, isolate, degrade, monitor or stalk,[14] regulate and subordinate the victim survivor.
Coercive controlling behaviours may or may not include physical or sexual assault or threats to kill the adult or child victim survivor. However, the use or threat of these behaviours, even once, can create significant, ongoing threat of reoccurrence, creating and reinforcing an environment of coercive control.
The power and control dynamics underpinning family violence can have significant cumulative psychological, spiritual and cultural, physical and financial impacts on victim survivors. This can undermine a victim’s autonomy, capacity for resistance and sense of identity and self-worth.[15] A victim survivor can feel trapped within their experience of coercive control, where their options for accessing safety and support are removed, restricted or regulated.
High levels of coercive control are an indicator for increased likelihood of adult or child victim survivor/s being killed or seriously injured.[16]
Recognising patterns of behaviour that underpin coercive control can enable broader recognition of family violence outside of overt or discrete ‘incidents’ of physical and sexual violence.
Recognised forms of family violence under the FVPA are continuously evolving as the evidence base on presentations of risk across communities is strengthened. This guide seeks to provide information on presentations of risk for individuals and families across the community and will be updated as the evidence base for practice evolves.
Family violence can occur in relationships between spouses, domestic or other current or former intimate partner relationships,[18] in other relationships such as parent/carer–child, child–parent/carer, siblings and other relatives, including between adult–adult, extended family members and in-laws, kinship networks and in family-like or carer relationships. There may be more than one person using or experiencing family violence in the family, in a range of different relationship types.
The FVPA uses a broad definition of ‘family’ and ‘family-like’ relationships, covering:
- a person who is, or has been, the relevant person’s spouse or domestic partner
- a person who is, or has had, an intimate personal relationship with the relevant person
- a person who is, or has been, a relative of the relevant person
- a child who normally or regularly resides with the relevant person or has previously resided with the relevant person on a normal or regular basis
- a child of a person who has, or has had, an intimate personal relationship with the relevant person
- any other person whom the relevant person regards or regarded as being like a family member (for example, a carer).
Determining whether a person is a family member must consider relationships in their entirety. Section 8 of the FVPA provides some guidance on how to determine this.
Aboriginal communities define family violence to include a range of physical, emotional, sexual, social, spiritual, cultural, psychological and economic abuses that occur within families, intimate relationships, extended families, kinship networks and communities. It extends to one-on-one fighting, abuse of Indigenous community workers as well as self-harm, injury and suicide.[19]
The Dhelk Dja definition of family violence acknowledges the impact of violence by non-Aboriginal people against Aboriginal partners, children, young people and extended family on spiritual and cultural rights, which manifests as exclusion or isolation from Aboriginal culture and/or community.[20]
Family violence against Aboriginal people also needs to be understood in the context of structural inequality, barriers and past and present discrimination experienced by Aboriginal people, further outlined in Section 12.1.4, ‘Family violence against Aboriginal people and communities’.
8.2 Family violence that is a criminal offence
Family violence includes a continuum of behaviours, some of which are criminal offences.
Action can be taken against perpetrators for some acts of family violence that are criminal offences in their own right, such as stalking, physical assault, sexual assault, threats, pet abuse, property damage and theft.
Some risk factors that are recognised as family violence (both criminal and non-criminal behaviours) may be the subject of a family violence intervention order.
A breach[21] of an intervention order could also result in criminal charges.
In Victoria, family violence offences fall under two major categories:
- contravention of a family violence intervention order (FVIO) or a family violence safety notice
- criminal offences within a family violence context such as assault, property damage, stalking or threatening behaviour, sexual offences, theft and kidnapping or abduction.
8.3 Prevalence and drivers of family violence
Family violence is a deeply gendered issue rooted in structural inequalities and an imbalance of power between women and men.
The causes of family violence are complex. They include gender inequality and community attitudes towards women. Gender-based violence is violence that is specifically directed against women or that affects women disproportionately.
Gender-based violence is any form of violence targeting a person on the basis of their gender or gender presentation. It is recognised that gender-based violence disproportionality effects women.
In Victoria, family violence is the most pervasive form of violence perpetrated against women.
While people of all genders can be perpetrators or victim survivors of family violence, overwhelmingly, perpetrators are men, who largely perpetrate violence against women (who are their current or former partner) and children.
The majority of men who experience family violence are victim survivors of other male family members’ use of violence.
The 2021 National Homicide Monitoring Program report found women are over-represented as victims of intimate partner homicide.[22] On average, one woman each week is killed by a current or former male intimate partner, who in the overwhelming majority (92.6%) of cases was a primary perpetrator.[23] In comparison, one man each month is killed by a current or former intimate partner, and similarly the majority of men in these cases were the primary perpetrator (60.7%)[24] .
Women are also more likely to experience sexual violence from a current or former intimate partner.
Due to co-occurring structural inequalities, some women experience significantly higher levels of violence generally, including family violence.
Significantly, as outlined in the MARAM Framework, Aboriginal women are 32 times more likely than other women to be hospitalised and 10 times more likely to die from violent assault.
Women and girls with disabilities are twice as likely to experience violence as those without disabilities.
Children are victim survivors of family violence whether they are directly targeted by the person using violence or not. They may be subject to direct physical, sexual, psychological or emotional violence, or to threatening, coercive and controlling behaviours by a perpetrator.
Children and young people also experience family violence as victim survivors if they are exposed to the effects of a perpetrator’s violence towards any family member, even if they do not witness that violence directly.
The Royal Commission highlights that due to under-reporting of family violence and the lack of comprehensive data collection, it is difficult to assess the full extent to which children and young people experience family violence in Victoria. Children are often present or affected by family violence that occurs in the home.[25]
Where family violence is occurring in a family, there may be multiple perpetrators and/or victim survivors. In 2019–20, Victoria Police attended 88,214 family incidents, and children were recorded as present at 29.8% of these incidents where a parent/carer, was named as the affected family member.[26] In this time, period, children aged 17 years or younger were recorded as affected family members in 8.1$ of incidents.[27] The average age of children identified as affected family members or witnesses to family violence incidents was 12.4 years.[28]
In addition to gendered drivers, other drivers of family violence reflect structural inequality and discrimination. These include, but are not limited to, patriarchy, colonisation, racism, sexism, ableism, ageism, biphobia, homophobia and transphobia[29].
People from communities such as LGBTIQ communities, culturally, linguistically and faith-diverse and Aboriginal communities, may have a broad definition of family. This may include family of origin and family of choice, which can extend to close community members. The presentations of risk in each of these family relationships may be different.
In all these cases, family violence is characterised by ongoing patterns of coercive and controlling behaviours intended to create fear and/or compliance in victim survivors.
The drivers of family violence and family violence risk behaviours (risk factors) can occur across all relationship types and communities; however, they manifest in particular patterns within and towards Aboriginal communities, diverse communities and at various stages across the lifespan.
Family violence behaviours are produced by a complex relationship between a perpetrator’s thoughts, emotional responses, social learning and cultural factors. These can be challenging to distinguish from one another.
None of these factors excuse the use of family violence.
The use of family violence is a choice for which the perpetrator is ultimately responsible.
In the context of the broader family violence system, it is important that people who use violence are held accountable for their behaviour through both legal sanctions and service responses that encourage safety, change and taking personal responsibility.
Further information about presentations of risk across communities is outlined in the community-specific sections of this Foundation Knowledge Guide in Section 12. This includes prevalence and impact on victim survivors across age groups, Aboriginal communities, diverse communities and older people, and it outlines the behaviour and use of family violence by perpetrators in these communities.
Updated