Strangulation Law has Big Impact
January 24, 2012

After a year on the books, more than 10,000 people have been arrested under the state's Strangulation Law

The statute began in  November of 2010 and Johnson City Police actually made the state's first Strangulation arrest last January 13th.

It was one of four felony strangulation arrests made in the village in 2011.

Victims advocates estimate about 60 strangulation arrests in the area, and say the law has had a big impact.

"Strangulation is very common in domestic violence relationships and it always has been. But now it allows for a charge to be placed against someone who utilizes that as a terror tactic, which is really what it is," says Raini Baudendistel the Executive Director of Crime Victims Assistance Center.

Advocates say before the law many abusers went unpunished for strangulation because there were no signs of physical injury.