Kristy Kassing abstract: 

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has long been regarded as abuse characterised by physical violence. However, most abusive relationships involve patterns of non-physical harm (conceptualised as coercive control). Current debates aim to determine an appropriate response to the issue in Australia, including whether coercive control should be explicitly criminalised. However, in order to adequately address coercive control, the experiences and perspectives of victim-survivors must remain central to these conversations. Adopting a feminist, trauma-informed, and victim-centred theoretical lens, Kristy's Honours thesis seeks to draw attention to women's experiences of coercive control and discusses, from the perspectives of women with lived experience, how the issue could be addressed to adequately support victim-survivors. The thesis demonstrates the traumatic and gendered nature of coercive control as a form of IPV, and identifies why victim-survivors require diverse and multi-faceted individual, collective, and socio-cultural support.
 
Bio:

Kristy Kassing is a Graduate Researcher in Crime, Justice, and Legal Studies at La Trobe University. She completed her Bachelor of Criminology (Honours) in June 2021 and will commence her Masters by Research in August. Broadly, Kristy's research interests include interpersonal violence, victimology, trauma, and feminist/queer criminology. Her Honours thesis (entitled Women's experiences of coercive control: how should coercive control be addressed to effectively support victim-survivors?) explores women's previous experiences of coercive control and seeks to understand how the issue could be addressed in Australia by highlighting the perspectives of 15 victim-survivors.
 
Jovana Vukovic abstract:

The majority of cases involving family violence, including intimate partner violence and child maltreatment, are addressed via legal avenues designed and led by Western (coloniser) knowledge systems. Increasingly, Aboriginal-controlled organisations seek to address and reduce Indigenous-specific family violence with an approach that differs in many important ways from the mainstream Western approach. Aboriginal-led approaches to family violence are trauma-informed, healing-focused, and take a holistic view of health and wellbeing. Jo’s research focuses on the Northern Territory, as Aboriginal children are vastly overrepresented in its child welfare system and Indigenous Territorian woman are the most victimised group in Australia. It is therefore crucial that Aboriginal-led approaches to family violence in the NT are explored, and the consistently positive outcomes found within these programs be acknowledged. Her research also highlights the contributing factors to success within programs, and discusses how government and non-Indigenous entities have helped or hindered outcomes.
 
Bio:
Jovana (Jo) Vukovic is a Graduate Researcher in Crime, Justice, and Legal Studies at La Trobe University. She completed her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in 2020, and commenced her Masters by Research degree in March 2021. Jo’s research interests include Indigenous studies and decolonial theory, family violence, and (intergenerational) trauma and healing practice. Her Honours thesis explored the outcomes of Aboriginal-led community-wide family violence prevention projects based in the NT. Her Masters thesis seeks to further this research by exploring the outcomes of Aboriginal-led programs in the NT that provide other preventative services, such as intensive family support and child health and development. The aim of her research is to highlight the ways in which programs that are trauma-informed, healing-focused, and which centre Aboriginal knowledge systems, are effective in addressing family violence.