In Control: Dangerous Relationships and How They End in Murder

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Just yesterday I was reading of a man who stabbed his ex wife and the judge said the Surrey police had to take some responsibility because they had not taken the women's predicament seriously and had made up their minds that the husband wasn't a danger. This is a step-by-step guide to help you understand the eight different stages people pass through, men and women, in a controlling relationship. she never pretends to be able to explain why these perpetrators end up becoming the people they are though, and she’s very frank about that. This book analyses the eight steps she has identified as the pattern and lead-up to homicide in a controlling and abusive relationship.

She is also involved in homicide case work, reviewing cases for the Home Office, and advising police and review panels on complex and high profile murders. World-renowned criminologist Jane Monckton Smith's groundbreaking work is revolutionising the understanding of coercive control and domestic homicide among those who respond to it. I felt very strongly that there should be a way that men who exhibit these behaviours should be named so that women in their future can avoid them.In the case of Vincent, Donna told her family that she had not been forced to watch Coronation Street the night before she was murdered. Nothing seems to change and that's what's depressing about this book, until the police take women's concerns seriously, more women will die.

It is, by far, the most useful and insightful resource I’ve ever encountered for not only understanding these circumstances and relationships, but for arming the reader to avoid such an event themselves and to keep them safe. The author’s expertise, as both a former police officer and an academic, is evident throughout the book.I have spent a great deal of time trying to understand the relationship between abuser and abused, particularly in a partnership such a marriage, or parenthood etc. You question the effectiveness of the adversarial system in courts because it places the victim in opposition to the offender.

In her book Jane discusses the eight stages of domestic homicide which range from the killer having a history of stalking or domestic abuse through to the act of murder.I work in the court system and am often frustrated with books that try to illustrate failings but I was impressed with this book. As you read the book, you’ll see that the most likely victims of domestic abuse and homicide are women (femicide). The Home Office did a review of domestic abuse in 2012 and said that coercive control is the best lens through which to view it.

I wish I had read this earlier, but now I am glad that controlling behavior is finally being seen in a different light. Jane Monkton Smith considers the progress that has been made in how society handles domestic abuse then goes on to argue that so much more can be done. What you think you would do is go in all guns blazing, get everyone to see sense, remove your daughter from the relationship and then it’s all over. Hard to read at times and deals with some shocking statistics, descriptions of abuse, murder etc but NECESSARY.As a police officer who works in this area this book has revolutionized my understanding of control and abuse with tangible changes I will take away. Chapter two explores ‘the commitment whirlwind’, where a controlling person moves things forward with a new partner extremely quickly or with intense persistence. Evidence of coercive control and physical injuries led to a reinvestigation, which challenged initial assumptions and resulted in Kasia’s case being correctly identified as a murder.