- Wiener, C. (2022). Sexual Assault R v Abdulahi Case Comment. Criminal Law Review pp. 931–935.
- Wiener, C. and Palmer, T. (2021). Telling the Wrong Stories: Rough Sex Coercive Control and the Criminal Law. Child and Family Law Quarterly, 2021, pp. 331–347.
- Wiener, C. and Stark, E. (2020). Coercive Control, the Offense and Men: A Response to Bates and Taylor. Domestic Violence Report, 25(2), pp. 31–43.
- WIENER, C. (2017). Seeing What is ‘Invisible in Plain Sight’: Policing Coercive Control. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 56(4), pp. 500–515. doi:10.1111/hojo.12227.
Contact details
Address
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom
About
Overview
Dr Cassandra Wiener works on the criminalisation of domestic abuse, in particular the articulation by the criminal law in the UK and elsewhere of coercive control. From September 2022 - September 2023 she is acting as Co-Investigator on Operation Bluestone/Soteria, a Home Office funded project working with police forces across England and Wales to transform the policing response to rape and serious sexual assault. Cassandra's monograph 'Coercive Control and the Criminal Law' is being published by Routledge in December 2023, and is available for pre-order here: https://www.routledge.com/Coercive-Control-and-the-Criminal-Law/Wiener/p/book/9781032422879. Cassandra is co-founder and co-convenor of the UK's first Domestic Violence and the Criminal Law Network of leading legal scholars working on all matters relating to intimate partner abuse. Cassandra is also co-founder and Director of the City Centre of Law and Criminal Justice: an interdisciplinary Crime Centre bringing together leading experts in criminal justice policy, practice and education to press an urgent agenda for social and criminal justice reform.
Cassandra is passionate about domestic abuse law reform and regularly acts as advisor to the Home Office and the Domestic Abuse Commissioner's office, among others. She played a key role in the drafting of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, successfully campaigning for a clause enhancing the criminal law protection of survivors of coercive control. She is regularly consulted by governments and activists around the world who are considering following the UK's lead and criminalising coercive control, most recently appearing before the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Coercive Control in New South Wales, Australia.
In addition to publishing in academic journals Cassandra advocates for domestic abuse law reform on social media and in the mainstream press, and has given interviews to BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey, the Guardian, the Independent, CC Chat, Wired and Unilad among others.
When she returns from her Home Office secondment in September 2023 Cassandra will continue to lead modules on criminal law for undergraduates on The City Law School LLB programme and to teach post graduates on the GDL. She would welcome enquiries from prospective doctoral applicants wishing to work in the area of domestic abuse, interpersonal violence (including sexual violence), violence against women and girls, coercive control and the criminal law.
Policy Impact
Cassandra was able to use her research findings to successfully campaign for the extension of the criminal law on coercive control to ex-partners of abuse. Her work was referenced in the House of Lords by Lord Goschen, Baroness Hayman and Baroness Bertin (Hansard HL Deb 5 Jan 2021 vol 809, col 93; vol 809, col 100 and HL Deb 10 Jan 2021 vol 810 col 1717). She provided evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee, co-convened a Round Table for the House of Lords Domestic Abuse Bill Committee, and ran a sustained and successful media campaign with articles and interviews in the Inews, the Guardian and the Conversation, among others.
Policy Expertise
In addition to her work on the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 above, Cassandra has acted as consultant to the Home Office on a number of occasions: most recently providing advice to the Public Protection Unit on the eviction of perpetrators from the family home during lockdown, and advising the Domestic Abuse Research Team at the Home Office Analysis and Insight Unit on the Review of the Controlling or Coercive Behaviour offence. She has also been consulted by a number of governmental organisations in the US such as the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the Domestic Violence Policy and Prevention Unit in Los Angeles. Cassandra works closely with the newly appointed Domestic Abuse Commissioner Nicole Jacobs and has worked with her research unit on a number of recent issues including the introduction of new Domestic Abuse Protection Orders and the treatment of survivors in the family courts.
Qualifications
- MA (Distinction), University of Sussex, UK, Sep 2021 – Sep 2014
- PhD, University of Sussex, UK, Sep 2014 – Jul 2021
- GDL/LPC (Distinction), University of Law, UK, Sep 1993 – Sep 1995
- BA Hons, University of Manchester, UK, Sep 1989 – Sep 1992
Employment
- Co-Investigator, Home Office, Sep 2022 – Sep 2023
- Director, The City Law School, Sep 2022 – present
- Senior Lecturer, City, University of London, Sep 2021 – present
- Research Assistant, Open Justice Project (funded by the Legal Education Foundation), University of Sussex, Apr – Oct 2020
- Visiting Lecturer, City, University of London, Sep 2019 – Jul 2021
- Associate Tutor, University of Sussex, Sep 2018 – Jul 2019
- Research Assistant, Office of the Sentencing Council, Jan – Jul 2017
- Senior Lecturer, University of Law, Sep 2003 – Jul 2012
- Assistant Solicitor, Simmons & Simmons LLP, Sep 1995 – Sep 2001
Awards
- University of Sussex (2021) Adam Weiler Impact Award 2021
Awarded to an exceptional doctoral researcher who demonstrates the potential to achieve great impact in their field - Sentencing Council (2017) Impact Award
Awarded for impact achieved via the production of new domestic abuse sentencing guidelines - ESRC (2016) Full PHD studentship
- University of Sussex (2016) Impact and Knowledge Exchange Award
Publications
Publications by category
Book
- Wiener, C. Coercive Control and the Criminal Law. Routledge.
Chapters (10)
- Wiener, C. (2022). Domestic Assaults and Coercive Control. Coercive Control and the Criminal Law (pp. 37–59). Routledge.
- Wiener, C. (2022). From Reluctant Sex to Rape Domestic Sexual Abuse and the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Coercive Control and the Criminal Law (pp. 91–120). Routledge.
- Wiener, C. (2022). The Architecture and Prevalence of Coercive Control Seeing What Is ‘Invisible in Plain Sight’1. Coercive Control and the Criminal Law (pp. 18–36). Routledge.
- Wiener, C. (2022). Introduction. Coercive Control and the Criminal Law (pp. 1–17). Routledge.
- Wiener, C. (2022). The Controlling or Coercive Behaviour Construct: Serious Crime Act 2015, s 76. Coercive Control and the Criminal Law (pp. 121–162). Routledge.
- Wiener, C. (2022). The Scottish Approach. Coercive Control and the Criminal Law (pp. 163–185). Routledge.
- Wiener, C. (2022). Conclusion. Coercive Control and the Criminal Law (pp. 186–199). Routledge.
- Wiener, C. (2022). ‘An Unpleasant, Closed-Off World’1. Coercive Control and the Criminal Law (pp. 60–90). Routledge.
- Wiener, C. (2022). The Serious Crime Act 2015, S 76. Coercive Control and the Criminal Law (pp. 121–162). Abingdon, UK: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-429-51394-7.
- Wiener, C. (2020). From Social Construct to Legal Innovation: The Offence of Controlling or Coercive Behaviour in England and Wales. Criminalising Coercive Control (pp. 159–175). Springer Singapore. ISBN 978-981-15-0652-9.
Journal articles (4)
Practitioners (2)
- (2019). Grooming and Coercive Control. SAFE: The Domestic Abuse Quarterly, pp. 23–33
- (2019). The New Law on Controlling or Coercive Behaviour in the UK: Progress But Not (Yet) A Solution. Human Rights Defender, pp. 11–16
Reports (2)
- Wiener, C. and Townend, J. (2021). Open Justice Data: A Comparative Review. London: The Legal Education Foundation.
- Wiener, C. and Stark, E.R.U. (2021). Report on the Introduction of Coercive Control as a Criminal Offence for the Government of New South Wales. New Sputh Wales Australia.
Working paper
- Wiener, C. and Hargreaves, D. (2022). Sexual Assault R v Abdulahi. London, UK: City Law School.
Professional activities
Editorial activity (3)
- Journal of Cultural Analysis and Social Change, board member, 2019 – present.
- Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, Board member, 2018 – present.
- The Law Teacher, Reviewer, 2016 – present.
Events/conferences (13)
- SLSA Annual Conference. (Conference) University of Cardiff (2021).
Paper: Coercive Control and the Criminal Law
Author: Wiener, C - Round Table for House of Lords Domestic Abuse Bill Committee. (Workshop) London (2021). Organising Committee.
Paper: Post Separation Abuse: Reform to the Law on Coercive Control
Author: Wiener, C. - New Directions in Feminist Thought. (Conference) LSE (2020).
Paper: Coercive Control: Towards A Typology of Abuse
Author: Wiener, C - Gender and Sexualities Research Centre. City, University of London (2020).
Paper: Coercive Control and the Criminal Law: A New Criminal Justice Response
Author: Wiener, C. - Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference. (Conference) online (2020).
Paper: Coercive Control and the Criminal Law
Author: Wiener, C. - International Colloquium On Coercive Control. (Conference) online (2020). Organising Committee.
Description: This was the first international colloquium on coercive control - Home Office Symposium. (Workshop) Home Office, London (2019). Invited speaker.
Paper: Coercive Control and the Criminal Law
Author: Wiener, C. - Elder National Abuse Conference. (Conference) London (2018). Invited speaker.
Paper: Section 76 Serious Crime Act
Author: Wiener, C. - Criminalising Non-Physical Abuse. (Workshop) Deakin University, Melbourne (2017). Invited speaker.
Paper: Criminalising Coercive Control in England and Wales; the Context, the Statue, the Challenges
Author: Wiener, C. - Policing Futures: Contexts, Practices and Debates. (Conference) University of Leeds, Leeds (2017).
Paper: Policing Coercive Control
Author: Wiener, C. - SVDV Research Network Coercion and Control in the Commission of Sexual Violence and Domestic Violence and Abuse. De Montfort University, Leicester (2016).
Paper: Seeing What is Invisible in Plain Sight: IDVA's and Survivors' Responses to a Theoretical Model of Coercive Control
Author: Wiener, C. - Social Science Methodology Conference. (Conference) University of Westminster, London (2016).
Paper: Danger and Ethics in the Postmodern Qaulitative Interview
Author: Wiener, C. - NGender Conference Liberation Struggle Resistance. (Conference) University of Sussex (2016).
Paper: What is Coercive Control? Building a Theoretical Model of Domestic Abuse
Author: Wiener, C.
Media appearances (9)
- Psychological Domestic Abuse is Illegal in Scotland. (2021) Seven News Broadcast (Australia) (television).
- Coercive Control Doesn't End With a Breakup and the Law Has to Reflect That. (2021) news (newspaper).
- (2021) BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey (radio).
- Caroline Flack's Death Shows Why Police and CPS Need More Training in Domestic Abuse Cases. (2021) The Conversation (newspaper).
- I Go To Sleep In Tears: Why Experts Are Calling For Post-Separation Economic Abuse To Be Recognised In Law. (2021) iNews (newspaper).
- Inside the Fight To Rid the World of Abusive Stalkerware. (2020) Wired (magazine).
- People in Abusive Relationships At Greater Risk During Isolation But Help Is Still At Hand. (2020) Unilad (website).
- The Criminal Law and Coercive Control. (2020) CC Chat (magazine).
- The Sally Challen Appeal. (2019) BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey: Danny Pike Show (radio).
Television programme
- Seven News Broadcast. Seven News, Australia Domestic Abuse Law Reform - why Scotland is leading the way
Other
- influencing policy: submitted evidence to Public Bill Committee, House of Commons Public Bill Committee on the Domestic Abuse Bill 2021 (Oct 2021 – Jun 2020).