Understanding, Investigating and Prosecuting Strangulation Cases‪.‬

TEN PERCENT OF VIOLENT DEATHS in the United States are attributable to strangulation. (1) The fatality risk for women and children is alarming. (2) Despite the high fatality risk of strangulation, it is often misunderstood or misidentified as something far less serious. Frequently, in adult domestic violence cases, in child abuse cases and in sexual assault cases there is an allegation by the victim that, "he choked me." The victims describe the perpetrator either grabbing their throat with one hand or with two hands; others describe a chokehold where the defendant used the crook of their arms; or, on rare occasions, victims report being garroted (3) or strangled with a ligature. In fact, the grabbing, suppression, squeezing or crushing of the throat is actually strangulation. In homicides there often are no external injuries, yet pathologists frequently discover broken hyoid bones (4) and otherwise hidden indicia of strangulation even in children. (5) Although cases of child abuse of teenagers is under reported, teens do report being grabbed by the neck and thrown up against the wall by parents, and smaller children have been known to be yanked by their throats and slammed down by abusers. In order for child protection professionals such as 911 operators, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, courts, doctors, EMS, and legislators to adequately respond and intervene in these cases, it is essential that we utilize the correct word--strangulation--and that specific medical intervention takes place and that a competent, thorough investigation is initiated. DANGERS ASSOCIATED WITH STRANGULATION