Strangulation: A Gender Based Crime
Strangulation is a method of torture used in intimate relationships by abusive men against women. That information may be no surprise to advocates for women who experience abuse. Anecdotally, those who advocate for abused women are informed that men strangle their female intimate partners at an alarming frequency. While not every case involves strangulation (often describe by clients as “choking”), the use of strangulation is disturbingly common.
While more work remains to be done on strangulation in same sex relationships, we know that in heterosexual relationships, strangulation proves to be an indicator of high danger in male-female intimate relationships.
Over the past ten years, strangulation has been studied in a significant way and the results have changed how the crime is treated in criminal charging decisions, in medical treatment and in safety planning.
Of 300 strangulation cases reviewed by Attorney Gael Strack of San Diego, 299 were committed by men against women. The results were published in 21 Journal of Emergency Med.Vol. 21 (2001). The criminal justice system frequently failed to pursue prosecution of strangulation because it is often an invisible crime, leaving no external indications of harm. The consequences are often unrecognized and delayed. Complicating charging decisions further was the lack of information and training in the field. A few of the lesser known facts of strangulation are: even fatal strangulation can leave no external evidence; women who are strangled by intimate partners are 800% more likely to be victims of homicide (Non-fatal Strangulation Is An Important Risk Factor for the Homicide of Women, 35 J. Emergency Med. 314 (2008)); serious health consequences, including stroke, can occur decades after the strangulation.
Female strangulation is a worldwide phenomenon that until recently has been misunderstood. Those of us who have advocated enhanced inclusion of violence against women under the Convention Against Torture , and who have promoted CEDAW and other conventions, have not addressed strangulation in the gender context. Our advocacy must keep pace with science on this heinous act of violence against women. Worldwide education on strangulation is needed. We became familiar with recent forms of torture through those seeking elimination of water boarding. We understand the methods and goals of that particular type of torture. We can do the same for strangulation, which globally impacts many thousands more of our population and is both an ancient and contemporary form of torture.