Today, felony strangulation laws have been passed in 48 states, 20 Tribal Codes, 2 U.S. Territories, the Federal Code and the Military Code. As of this year, Idaho now permits an evaluation of stranglers as part of sentencing by an evaluator approved by the Domestic Assault and Battery Evaluator Advisory Board. (Rule 33.3, Idaho Code Section 18-918(7), recognizing that men who strangle are the most dangerous of offenders. Stranglers have been linked to domestic violence homicides, mass and school shootings and officers killed in the line of duty. Strangulation communicates a clear intent to kill. (DV Report, 2014). Rendering a person unconscious is an inherently dangerous act that is easily capable of causing death or brain injury with devastating lifelong consequences. The difference in the outcome, between unconsciousness, brain damage and death, may be only a matter of a few additional seconds of pressure. In the final analysis, this is an act of cruel domination met by sheer horror and often accompanied by serious physical and psychological harm. (Lemmon, 2014). Given our current knowledge about stranglers, the criminal justice system has a duty to hold these offenders responsible for their extremely dangerous conduct which requires a better understanding of stranglers and what to do with them from bail through probation.
In this webinar, the leading experts in the field will discuss for the first time, the connection between ACEs, rage and stranglers, the need to develop new strategies in the treatment and supervision of men who strangle their intimate partners and provide an overview of Hope Theory.
Objectives:
1) Increase understanding of why strangulation and suffocation offenses must be treated as serious felonies
2) Improve the court’s handling of non-fatal strangulation at every stage;
3) Increase awareness about the dangerousness of stranglers in order to promote victim safety
4) Increase understanding about the science of hope