The National Family Justice Center Alliance, based in San Diego, CA, has received a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women, to host the National Strangulation Training Institute – a resource training and think tank for intimate partner violence professionals across the United States. Under the leadership of former prosecutor Gael Strack, the Alliance has been providing specialized training on strangulation cases for many years and recently sponsored a new strangulation law in California (SB 430 – Kehoe).

The new two year federal grant will help the Alliance develop an on-line directory of national trainers and experts on strangulation, develop a mailing list for national policy makers, trainers, and legal organizations, provide proactive basic and advanced strangulation training to OVW grantees and OVW-funded developing and existing Family Justice Centers and others types of multi-agency Centers for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The Strangulation Training Institute will also provide same day telephone (toll-free national number) and email technical assistance to all OVW-funded grantees, host ad hoc workgroups on emerging issues, host a national resource website (www.familyjusticecenter.com), host an on-line password-protected Strangulation Resource Library, host strangulation training webinars (audio) and/or webcasts (video), host a strangulation track at the annual FJC Conference, host annual “Train the Trainers” and “Develop Your Strangulation Expert” courses in San Diego, and provide targeted on-site basic strangulation training (as approved by OVW) to OVW grantees.

Reena Becerra, a survivor of strangulation at the hands of her ex-partner, hailed the grant as a “lifesaving step forward” in the struggle to protect victims of domestic violence. Alliance CEO Gael Strack said: “This grant will allow us to take our research and work over the last fifteen years to a whole new level in educating professionals about the lethal nature of strangulation in intimate partner violence situations. But more importantly, it will allow us to help professionals work with surviving victims of strangulation before they end up being killed in subsequent attacks by their husbands and boyfriends.”

“Most domestic violence offenders who strangle their partners want them to know they can kill them so they will live with the knowledge of their partner’s lethality day and night. But the abuser does not want to kill them or cause great bodily injury. Now, we can help hold these violent abusers accountable before they kill,” said Casey Gwinn, President of the National Family Justice Center Alliance.

Strangulation is a gender-based crime committed almost entirely by men against women. In the nationally known study conducted in San Diego in 1995, under the leadership of former San Diego City Attorney Casey Gwinn, the research team found that 299/300 cases involved male perpetrators. Today, more than 10% of the women killed each year in this country are strangled.

Strangulation is one of the most lethal forms of domestic violence: unconsciousness may occur within seconds and death within minutes. Victims may have no visible injuries whatsoever, yet because of underlying brain damage due to the lack of oxygen during the strangulation assault, victims may have serious internal injuries or die days, even weeks later.

Strangulation is a common form of domestic violence inflicted upon victims by perpetrators, especially by sophisticated batterers. The lack of external injuries and the lack of medical training among domestic violence professionals had led to the minimization of this type of violence, exposing the victims to potential serious health consequences, further violence, and even death. Batterers are rarely held accountable for the strangulation crimes they actually commit. Recent research has also found that “choking” or strangling a victim is often a precursor to homicide. One study found that surviving victims of strangulation are 700% more likely to experience a subsequent attempted homicide by their partner and 800% more likely to be killed by that same partner in a later assault (Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2010).

Not only has strangulation been overlooked in the medical literature, but many states still do not adequately address this violence in their criminal statutes, policies or responses. When domestic violence perpetrators use strangulation to silence their victims, not only is this felonious assault, it can be an attempted homicide. Strangulation is also a form of power and control which can have a devastating psychological effect on victims in addition to the potentially fatal outcome, including suicide. For more information, go to http://www.familyjusticecenter.com/Strangulation-Training/strangulation-training.html.