I have been dancing around this issue more than once but the more we talk about it and become aware of how our systems can be misused by a perpetrator of domestic violence, we will be able to identify sooner and stop it before further damage is done. Litigation tactics to harass, intimidate and discredit the other party for their own advantage in legal proceedings generally takes place post-separation.

These tactics may be referred to in legislation and other bench books and by judicial officers as malicious, frivolous, vexatious, querulous, or an abuse of process.

National Domestic and Family violence Bench Book

Taking legal action, making false reports and applying for intervention orders against a partner to deflect blame away from their own abusive behaviour is calculated and a manipulation of the system. Emotional and financial hardship is further created for the victim by the system that should have been there to protect them.

So how can we detect this abuse and avoid an innocent person being incorrectly identified as the agressor?

More training of the gatekeepers, police and magistrates, or at least have a professional expert advisor available to guide them on intervention orders that will impact on children and family relationships. If the police and magistrates fail to recognise this abuse when it is in front of them, it will keep happening, and more families will suffer.

Systems abuse is only one characteristic of a complex pattern of behaviours perpetrators engage in order to control another person which is more knowingly referred to as coercive control. It is subtle and insidious. Being alert to the signs and not accepting it as part of normal relationship will save you a lot of heartache down the track. More on that in another post. …

Systems abuse need to be recognised as a form of domestic violence.

References

National Domestic and Family Violence Bench Book

Monash Gender and Family Violence