How to Write a Victim Impact Statement for Coercive Control

A note before you read

If you are reading this, you may be getting ready to put years of harm into a few pages. That is a heavy thing to do. Coercive control is hard to name, and even harder to explain to people who were not there. This guide is here to make it a little easier.

It covers what a victim impact statement is, why a coercive control statement is different from most others, what to put in, what to leave out, and how to look after yourself while you write. There are real Australian examples and support services at the end. You can read an example victim impact statement for coercive control here.

Take it slowly. You can stop and come back. You do not have to do this in one sitting, and you do not have to do it alone.

What a victim impact statement is

A victim impact statement is your chance to tell the court how a crime has affected your life. You write it after the person has pleaded guilty or been found guilty, and before they are sentenced. The judge or magistrate reads it. They can take it into account when they decide the penalty.

A few things to hold onto:

• Writing one is your choice. You do not have to write anything at all.
• It is not a letter to the offender. It is a statement to the court.
• It is not the place to ask for a certain sentence. That part is up to the court.
• Someone can help you. A counsellor, a family member or a support worker can sit with you, or write it for you in your words.

In most states your statement needs to end with a statutory declaration. That is a short line where you sign and declare the statement is true, in front of an authorised witness such as a lawyer, police officer or pharmacist. Victoria Legal Aid sets this out plainly in its guide to victim impact statements.

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Your statement can also help beyond the courtroom. Every state and territory runs a victims of crime financial assistance scheme, which is a separate process from the court case. In most places you do not need a conviction, or even a charge, to apply, and these schemes can help with costs like counselling, medical bills and lost income. When you apply, you are asked to show what happened and how the crime affected you. This is where your victim impact statement can do double duty. You can draw on it, and in some schemes you may be able to attach it as supporting material, because it already sets out, in your own words, the harm you carried. That can matter for coercive control, where there may be no medical record to point to and your own account of how you were harmed becomes valuable. Each scheme has its own form, its own time limits and its own rules about what counts as proof, so check the requirements for your state. A victim support service, or the scheme itself, can help you apply.

Why a coercive control statement is different

Most guides on victim impact statements are written with one event in mind. A single assault. A break-in. A car crash. You describe what that one event did to you, and that is the statement.

Coercive control does not work like that. There is rarely one moment. It is a pattern. The check-ins. The rules about money. The way your world got smaller, until you were not sure what you were allowed to do anymore.

That makes the writing harder for two reasons.

The first is emotional. With coercive control there is often no broken bone to point to. Many survivors carry a quiet voice that says it was not that bad, or that they should have left sooner, or that no one will believe a pattern they cannot photograph. If that voice is with you right now, please know this. The harm was real. The law in Australia now agrees that it was real, even when no one was hit.

The second is practical. A statement built around a single incident does not fit a harm that built up over months or years. You are not describing one bad day. You are describing what it did to you to live under control. The good news is that the format actually suits this, once you know where to put your focus. More on that below.

Where coercive control sits in Australian law right now

This part matters, because your statement attaches to whatever the person was actually convicted of. The law is different in each state, and it is changing fast. Here is where things stand in mid 2026. Always check the current position for your state, or ask the prosecutor.

New South Wales was the first state to make coercive control a standalone crime. The offence sits in section 54D of the Crimes Act 1900 and has applied since 1 July 2024. It covers current and former intimate partners, and only behaviour from that date onward. The maximum penalty is seven years. You can read the plain-English summary on the NSW Government coercive control page. In early 2026, a NSW court handed down the first full-time prison sentence for coercive control. That case showed that non-physical patterns of abuse are now being treated as serious crime, with real time behind bars.

Queensland followed. Since 26 May 2025 coercive control has been a crime there too, with a maximum penalty of fourteen years. The Queensland offence is broader than the NSW one. It covers current and former intimate partners, family members and unpaid carers. The Queensland Government coercive control page explains the changes.

South Australia passed its own coercive control law in September 2025, becoming the third state to do so. The offence is not yet in force. It is expected to start in 2027, after training and preparation across Police, courts and services. The maximum penalty is seven years. You can follow progress on the South Australian Attorney-General's Department page.

The ACT is in the middle of its own reform, with legislation introduced in 2026 to make coercive control a crime. See making coercive control a crime in the ACT.

Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory do not yet have a single standalone coercive control offence. That does not mean the behaviour is ignored. Controlling behaviour is recognised through family violence laws and protection orders, and it can sit behind related charges such as stalking, breaching a protection order, threats or assault. Tasmania has gone further than most for years, with offences for economic and emotional abuse under its Family Violence Act 2004.

So what does this mean for your statement? In NSW or Queensland, the conviction might be coercive control itself. There, the pattern is the offence, and you have room to speak to it as a pattern. In other states, the conviction might be for specific acts, like breaching an order or stalking. There, you speak to the impact of those acts. Either way, you write about the impact on you. Impact is the safe ground in every state.

One honest note. A victim impact statement only happens if there is a conviction. Getting to that point is its own long and hard road, and not every report ends there. If you are still at the start of all this, the support services at the end of this page can walk beside you, whatever stage you are at.

Before you start writing: safety and choices

Two things are worth knowing before you write a single word.

Your statement is not private. Once it goes to the court, it becomes part of the court record. The prosecution gives a copy to the defence. That means the person who harmed you, and their lawyer, can read it. The media and the public can apply to read it too. There are protections that stop certain victims being named, but you should still think about your own safety.

So be careful what you share. Leave out anything that could put you at risk. That includes your current address, where you work now, your children's school, the name of a new partner, or your daily routine. You are telling the court how you were harmed. You are not handing over a map of your life.

You also have choices. You do not have to write a statement. You do not have to read it aloud. You can ask the prosecutor to read it, or have it handed to the judge to read in silence. If you do read it, courts can make arrangements so you do not have to see the person who harmed you. And you can get help. A counsellor, support worker or family member can help you write it, or write it for you in your words.

It is best not to write your statement straight after a hard hearing or a hard day. It can take time to understand what the abuse did to you. Give yourself that time where you can.

What to put in

Your statement is about impact. Not a list of everything that happened. The court already knows the facts of the case from the conviction. Your job is to show what those facts did to you.

A simple way in is to think about your life before, and your life now. What changed. What you lost. What you now carry.

These areas can help you find the words:

• How you feel. Fear, anxiety, low mood, hypervigilance, panic, shame, numbness. The emotional weight you live with.
• Your body and health. Sleep, appetite, weight, headaches, the stress your body holds. Any treatment or medication you now need.
• Money. Debt left in your name, lost income, the cost of starting again, the fact you had no money of your own.
• Work or study. Time off, a job you could not keep, study you had to stop, plans you had to put down.
• Your relationships and your world. The friends and family you were cut off from. The slow shrinking of your life. How you connect with people now.
• Your sense of self. Trust in your own judgement. The decisions you no longer feel able to make. Who you were before, and who you are working to be again.
• Your children, if they were affected and you are entitled to speak to that. Check with the prosecutor about what you can include.

You can attach things that support your statement, such as a medical report or a counsellor's letter, if you have them. You do not have to.

What to leave out

There are a few rules that apply across Australia. The Queensland courts put it simply. The statement should focus on the impact of the offending, not the offence itself, and it must relate only to the matter the person is being sentenced for.

So, in plain terms:

• Do not re-tell the crime in detail. The court already has the facts. Stay on the effect it had on you.
• Do not ask for a sentence. Do not say what you think should happen to them. That is the court's job.
• Do not bring in things they were not convicted of, or events from the past that are not part of this case.
• Do not give your opinion on their character, or on whether they will do it again.
• Try to avoid offensive language. Parts written that way may be removed before the judge reads them.

That third point is the one that catches coercive control survivors off guard. Coercive control is a pattern. It can feel wrong, even unfair, to be told to leave out the years of it. So here is the reframe that helps. The pattern does not disappear. It shows up in the impact. You do not need to list every incident. You need to show what living under control did to you. That carries the weight of the pattern without breaking the rules.

Turning control into impact

This is the heart of writing a coercive control statement. You shift from describing what they did, to describing what it did to you.

Here are some examples of that shift. They are written to show the idea, not to be copied word for word. Your statement should sound like you.

Instead of:
"He went through my phone every night and made me explain every message."

Try: 
"I started deleting messages from friends before he could see them. I felt watched even when I was on my own. I still flinch when my phone lights up."‍
--
Instead of:

"He controlled all the money and I had to ask him for everything."
‍
Try:
"I had no money that was mine. I felt like a child asking for permission. Two years on, I still feel guilty spending anything on myself."
--
Instead of:
"He told me I was stupid and worthless until I believed it."

Try:
"I stopped trusting my own mind. I second-guess small things now, like what to cook or what to wear. I am slowly learning that my choices are allowed to be mine."
--
‍Instead of:
"He stopped me seeing my family and checked where I was all the time."

Try:
"My world got very small. I lost touch with people who loved me. I am only now starting to rebuild those friendships, and some of them cannot be repaired."
--
‍Notice the pattern. Each one names a real harm. None of them re-tell the offence or attack the person. They show the cost. That is what a victim impact statement is for.

A simple structure you can follow

There is no single right way to lay this out. If a blank page feels like too much, this order is easy to follow.

1. A line or two about who you are, if you want to start there. This is optional.
2. Your life before, in short.
3. The impact, area by area, using the headings above that fit you.
4. Where you are now, and what healing is starting to look like.
5. The statutory declaration. You sign and date it, declaring it is true, in front of an authorised witness.

Most statements run between one and three pages. That is a guide, not a rule. Longer is not stronger. A short, honest statement can land harder than a long one. Say what is true for you, and stop when you have said it.

Reading it aloud, or not

If you want to, you can read your statement to the court yourself. You can also ask the prosecutor to read it for you, or have it handed up for the judge to read without anyone reading it aloud. Courts can put protections in place for survivors, such as making sure you do not have to see the person who harmed you, or letting you give it from another room. This is your decision, and there is no right answer. Do what feels safe.

Where to get help and support

You do not have to do any of this alone. The people below help with exactly this, every day.

If you need to talk to someone now

• 1800RESPECT is the national line for sexual assault, domestic and family violence. Call 1800 737 732, any time. 1800respect.org.au
• Lifeline offers crisis support, any time, on 13 11 14. lifeline.org.au
• 13YARN is a crisis support line for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, on 13 92 76. 13yarn.org.au

Help with the statement and the court process

• NSW: the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions guide to victim impact statements. Victims Services NSW can help on the Victims Access Line, 1800 633 063.
• Victoria: the Victims of Crime victim impact statement page, and the Victims of Crime Helpline on 1800 819 817.
• Queensland: the ODPP guide to victim impact statements and the Sentencing Council information for victims. Victim Assist Queensland can help on 1300 546 587.
• Western Australia: the victim impact statement page. The Victim Support Service can help you write your statement and forward it to the court, on 1800 818 988 or (08) 9425 2850.
• South Australia: the Law Handbook on victim impact statements. The Victim Support Service offers support and court companions on 1800 842 846.
• Tasmania: the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions victim impact statement page. A witness assistance officer can help you prepare it, and the Victims of Crime Service offers support on 1300 300 238.
• Australian Capital Territory: the Director of Public Prosecutions victim impact statement page. The Witness Assistance Service, or Victim Support ACT on 1800 822 272, can help you prepare it.
• Northern Territory: the Director of Public Prosecutions victim impact statement page. The Witness Assistance Service can help you prepare it.
• Commonwealth matters: the CDPP victim impact statement page.
• Across Australia: the eSafety Commissioner has a clear overview of how to get police and legal help, with links for every state and territory. We here at Justice Draft have written a plain language, step-by-step guide on how to write a victim impact statement that you can access here. PACT also has a practical guide to writing a victim impact statement.

Wherever you are, the prosecutor or witness assistance officer on your case can help you with your statement. They do this often. You are allowed to ask.

A last word

Putting coercive control into words is one of the hardest writing tasks there is. There is no perfect statement, and there is no statement that will sum up everything you lived through. You are not aiming for perfect. You are aiming for true.

Your words carry weight. Courts in Australia are listening to this kind of harm in a way they did not a few years ago. Whatever you choose to write, and even if you choose to write nothing at all, what happened to you mattered, and so do you.

If starting from a blank page feels like too much, Justice Draft can help. Our free guided questions take you through it gently, one step at a time, and turn your answers into a first draft you can shape from there.

This article is general information, not legal advice. The law on coercive control and on victim impact statements is different in each state and territory, and it is changing. For advice about your situation, speak to the prosecutor on your case, a victim support service, or a lawyer in your state.