Non-Fatal Strangulation: An Empirical Review of the New Offence in England and Wales
| Published date | 01 December 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00220183241277005 |
| Author | Hannah Bows,Jonathan Herring |
| Date | 01 December 2024 |
Non-Fatal Strangulation:
An Empirical Review of the New
Offence in England and Wales
Hannah Bows
Durham Law School, Durham University, UK
Jonathan Herring
Exeter College, Oxford University, UK
Abstract
Following the introduction of specific non-fatal strangulation (NFS) offences into law in a num-
ber of other jurisdictions over the last 20 years, England and Wales introduced a new offence
of Non-Fatal Strangulation as part of the Domestic Abuse Act (2021) in 2022. Drawing on data
provided by 32 forces, this article examines how the offence has been used in the first
14 months of operation. Specifically, we explored the victim and suspect characteristics, rela-
tionships and case outcomes of recorded incidents by police and the pipeline between
recorded crime and prosecution. Our findings support the limited evidence on NFS in
England and Wales, and Australia in finding that most victims are female and most suspects
are male, typically victims and suspects are young-middle-aged adults, and most NFS is domes-
tic in nature. We also found Black victims and suspects to be overrepresented. Whilst the data
indicates the new offence is being routinely used by police, and charge rates compare well to
other crimes, around 90% of recorded incidents are not resulting in a prosecution or convic-
tion. We consider the implications of these findings for research and practice.
Keywords
Non-fatal strangulation, strangulation, domestic abuse, violence, assault, violence against
women
Corresponding author:
Hannah Bows, Durham Law School, Durham University, Palatine Centre Stockton Road, Durham, DH1 3HE, UK.
Email: hannah.bows@durham.ac.uk
Article
The Journal of Criminal Law
2024, Vol. 88(5-6) 332–346
© The Author(s) 2024
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/00220183241277005
journals.sagepub.com/home/clj
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