Good practice

Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 — Criminalising Coercive Control as a Course of Behaviour

United Kingdom · Edinburgh · See the United Kingdom profile

Scotland's 2018 Act created the UK's first "course of behaviour" offence, criminalising coercive control as domestic abuse. Since April 2019: 93% of charges proceeded to court, conviction rates of 84–91%, and child-aggravation convictions doubled year-on-year.

93%

Charges proceeding to court (since Apr 2019)

84–91%

Conviction rate

Details

Maturity: Established
Promoter: Scottish Government / Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)
Period: 2018-present
Keywords: domestic abuse, coercive control, gender-based violence, criminal law, legislation

Context

Scotland's Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, in force from April 2019, created the UK's first 'course of behaviour' offence, criminalising coercive control as domestic abuse.

Results

Since commencement, 93% of charges have proceeded to court with conviction rates of 84–91%, and child-aggravation convictions have doubled year-on-year.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-06-21
Scottish Government / Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) — accessed 2026-06-21
Scottish Government: Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 — Final Reporting Requirement — accessed 2026-06-21
Legislation.gov.uk: Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 (primary text) — accessed 2026-06-21
Cairns (2020): The Moorov doctrine and coercive control — Sage Journals / International Journal of Evidence & Proof — accessed 2026-06-21

Quality score: 96/100

How is this calculated?

Evidence: Observational / pre–post

Top 4% in this catalogue (719 scored practices)

Scores cluster high, so position within the catalogue is often more telling than the number alone.

Evaluation

Evaluated by C-NAPSE

Score profile — the dimensions behind the score — how it's computed

Transferability / replicability2/3

England and Wales' Domestic Abuse Act 2021 introduced a coercive control offence partly influenced by the Scottish model; Ireland, Australia and New Zealand have cited the course-of-behaviour approach in their own reform processes.

Impact on gender equality1/1

The Act captured a previously unprosecutable conduct category; 93% of charges proceeded to court and 84-91% conviction rates confirm victims gained meaningful legal protection they previously lacked.

Effectiveness1/1

Proceedings increased 67% in year two; the Act remained the only crime category to rise during COVID-19 court closures — evidence that police and prosecutors adopted the new framework rapidly.

Efficiency1/1

The reform used existing COPFS, police, and sheriff court infrastructure; the main investment was in police and prosecutor training, not new institutions.

Evaluated outcomes1/1

Scottish Government published interim and final reporting-requirement reports; the Scottish Parliament Justice Committee conducted independent post-legislative scrutiny (2022-23); Cairns published peer-reviewed analysis in Sage Journals (2020).

Sustainability1/1

Primary legislation embedded in Scotland's permanent legal system with evolving prosecutorial guidance, Scottish Sentencing Council guidance (2022), and continuing Justice Committee oversight.

Achievement / evidence1/1

383 convictions in 2020-21 alone for a previously un-prosecutable offence category; child aggravation convictions doubled from 39 to 90 — concrete, documented results.

Gender-mainstreaming embedding1/1

The Act explicitly recognises domestic abuse as a gendered crime; statutory guidance acknowledges that the vast majority of perpetrators are male; the course-of-behaviour design addresses patterns of gender-based control structurally.

Curator validation1/1

Scottish Government official criminal justice statistics (gov.scot), legislation.gov.uk primary text, Scottish Parliament committee scrutiny report, and peer-reviewed Sage Journals academic publication — all authoritative independent sources.

Cite this

Evidoria. Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 — Criminalising Coercive Control as a Course of Behaviour. Persistent ID: 5ec7fd01-7cf7-42a2-bce3-ae8926c2e0a2.

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