Drawing on a qualitative study conducted with both individuals who have been shunned from the Jehovah’s Witnesses community and those who were in a position to shun others, the authors identify areas of development within the Serious Crime Act 2015 and propose that there is scope to interpret the law broadly to include instances of people shunned from the Jehovah’s Witnesses community.

Long-term poverty, precarious employment, low pay, the increased pension age and real-term reductions in welfare benefits, including bereavement allowances, have brought into focus the financial vulnerability of many older women aged 55 years and older in the United Kingdom. In this article, survey data were analysed alongside evidence from observations of debt support meetings and interviews with older women who were receiving debt advice from a support charity. The findings suggest that older women were more likely to have financial problems than older men, particularly those women who were living on low incomes and who were separated or divorced. Following the breakdown of a relationship, many older women were at increased risk of more debt and bankruptcy, particularly those aged between 55 and 64 years and those in routine and semi-routine occupations. Many women had kept their financial problems hidden due to fear and shame whilst bringing up their children and some had been subject to coercive control and economic abuse by their former husbands or partners. It is important that any pension reforms, changes to minimum wage rates, and new divorce and domestic abuse legislation and welfare policies take account of the circumstances of separated, divorced and widowed older women. More financial support and advice needs to be provided to older women facing financial difficulties.

On July 13, 2013, the Commission for Public Complaints released the Report Following a Public Interest Investigation into the Conduct of RCMP Members in Nova Scotia in Respect to Matters Involving Nicole (Ryan) Doucet. After interviewing all parties involved and reviewing 25 incidences involving Ms. Doucet and Mr. Ryan, the Acting Commissioner, Ian McPhail, concluded the RCMP’s policy regarding violence in relationships “was followed at all times.” According to The Report, the RCMP did not fail to protect Ms. Doucet. These conclusions, however, seem to be at odds with the evidence presented in The Report. After discussing coercive control and reviewing R. v. Ryan, the paper analyses the Commission’s findings to argue that the evidence presented to the Commission clearly illustrates that police ignored Ms. Doucet’s repeated pleas for help. The Commissioner missed a real opportunity to review current RCMP policies on domestic violence to bring them in line with current and on-going research on coercive control.

This study explores the perspectives of female Iranian students living in both Iran and the UK concerning violence against women. A qualitative approach, in the form of in-depth interviews, was carried out with 21 participants. Drawing on Stark’s concept of “liberty crime” the research found that the participants, regardless of their country of residence, perceived violence against women (VAW) as denying the opportunity for equal personhood by stripping away the victim’s sense of self. However, the scope of what was considered to be liberty crime was affected by the individual participants’ religious beliefs and their degree of acceptance of the Iranian state’s gender ideology. The research highlighted the extent to which different forms of VAW are interlinked and combine in order to control and subjugate women irrespective of their country of residence.