CA Strangulation Training Institute Announcement

Strangulation Training Institute

Domestic Violence Strangulation Law Passed in California!

From Left to Right: Cherri Allison, J.D., Alameda County FJC Executive Director; Nancy O'Malley, J.D., Alameda County District Attorney; Senator Chris Kehoe; Laura Colgate, Sonoma County FJC Executive Director; Sgt. Judy Weber, San Diego FJC; Venetee, VOICES Member; and Chief John Welter, Anaheim Police

In 2011, I had the honor to work with the National Family Justice Alliance and many of you to author SB 430 in California, seeking to make California the 30th state with a specialized statute on strangulation. Your emails, phone calls, and letters of support to your local legislators mattered. Thanks to your tremendous advocacy, we received unanimous support in the Assembly and the Senate which ultimately led to Governor Jerry Brown signing The Diana Gonzalez Strangulation Act of 2011. SB 430 amends Penal Code section 273.5 to add the specific act of cutting off a person's airway or blood flow to the brain as the basis for a serious criminal offense in California. The law is named in honor of Diana Gonzalez, the San Diego City College student murdered by her abusive husband last October on the City College campus. I believe this new legislation will save lives in the years to come. Please do not hesitate to call me, if I can help in any way in implementing this important legislation in 2012.

Christine Kehoe

California State Senator

39th District

State Capitol, RM 5050

Note from the Alliance

Cheryl Kozachenko, Legislative Aide to Senator Chris Kehoe, and Casey Gwinn, J.D., President of the Family Justice Center Alliance

We are extremely grateful to Senator Kehoe and her staff for their incredible leadership in sponsoring SB 430 (Strangulation), our first ever felony strangulation bill: The Diana Gonzalez Strangulation Prevention Act of 2011. It is a tribute to her leadership, understanding, and commitment to stopping family violence, that we received unanimous support in the Assembly and the Senate.

SB 430 (Strangulation) will add critical language to Penal Code Section 273.5 (Spousal Abuse) to clarify that strangulation is serious criminal conduct in intimate relationships and by the very nature of the offense, can cause internal and often external injuries which result in a traumatic condition as defined in 273.5. This amendment to 273.5 will provide clear direction to judges and juries as finders of fact in domestic violence cases when an abuser has strangled his partner. It will also lay the foundation for the creation of a special jury instruction to help guide juries in cases involving strangulation.

As you know, without this bill, prosecutors, police officers, and advocates have been left with only two charges for non-lethal strangulation cases with surviving victims - Penal Code Section 245(a)(1) which requires proof of intent to do great bodily injury and Penal Code 187/666 (Attempted Murder) which requires intent to kill. Neither charge fits a large percentage of cases where the offender is not trying to cause great bodily injury and is not trying to kill his partner.

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. Nevertheless, when an abuser strangles his intimate partner he is committing a serious criminal offense and must be held accountable through the criminal justice system. Whether the ultimate offense is charged as a misdemeanor or felony under Penal Code Section 273.5, SB 430 will allow criminal justice professionals to protect victims and hold abusers accountable before there is serious injury or death. SB 430 does not create a new offense; it simply provides clarification that 273.5 can apply to a strangulation case even if there is no external injury. The prosecution must still prove an internal injury in order to prosecute a strangulation case with no visible external injury, but the clarification for judges and juries that 273.5 applies to this type of serious violence will save lives. Women that are strangled by their partners and survive are 800% more likely to be killed by their partner in a subsequent assault and 700% more likely to suffer an attempt on their lives by their abusive partner at a later time. Thus, SB 430 becomes a homicide prevention measure by allowing prosecutors to file spousal abuse charges as a misdemeanor or felony before the abuser ends up killing his partner.

Strangulation is a gender-based crime committed almost entirely by men against women. In the nationally-known study conducted in San Diego in 1995, the research team found that 299/300 cases involved male perpetrators. Today, more than 10% of the women killed each year in California by their intimate partners are strangled to death. Research confirms that 50% of all domestic violence homicide victims were strangled at least once before they were later murdered. If we can prevent even one homicide by early intervention prosecution of an abuser when he strangles his partner and she survives, making SB 430 part of California law will be worth it. Most experts, however, are predicting 50-100 women per year may be saved by this legislation.

We want to thank you for supporting this important legislation. This law would not have been passed without you. Together, with the Office on Violence Against Women, the California District Attorneys Association, the California Police Chiefs Association, POST, Cal EMA, and others, we will now roll up our sleeves and implement this important new legislation in 2012.

Sincerely,

Casey Gwinn and Gael Strack

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U.S. Department of Justice Funds National Strangulation Training Institute

The Honorable Susan Carbon, Director of the Office on Violence Against Women

We were honored to receive a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women this fall, to lead the National Strangulation Training Institute - a resource center and think tank for intimate partner violence professionals across the United States.

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.

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.

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Strangulation Training Institute Resources

To help California implement its new strangulation law, the following resources are available:

California Training Information

In partnership with the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA), the California Police Chiefs Association (CPCA), and the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA), the Alliance will be providing strangulation trainings throughout California at various Family Justice Centers. We anticipate most of the trainings will be approximately four hours with MCLE, CEU and/or POST accreditation. The trainings will cover the following core and critical topics for any professional working with victims of domestic violence or sexual assault: The Medical and Legal Aspects of Investigating and Prosecuting Strangulation Cases; A Review of the New strangulation Law; Charging Considerations for Police and Prosecutors; Lethality and Safety Planning; Group Exercises; and Questions and Answers.

Attendees will have access to experienced, dynamic trainers, and a wealth of materials to quickly implement the law. We are grateful to OVW, CDAA, CPCA, and Cal EMA for their strong leadership and generous support for these trainings. With their support, we have developed a statewide implementation plan for this new law. Over the last ten years, many states have passed strangulation laws but have failed at implementation, rendering their new strangulation law essentially meaningless and victims vulnerable. By working together, California can implement our new strangulation law quickly, with consistency and ultimately save lives.

Upcoming Trainings:

January 12, 2012 - San Diego Family Justice Center
January 18, 2012 - San Diego Family Justice Center
February 10, 2012 - Riverside Family Justice Center
February 13, 2012 - Stanislaus Family Justice Center
February 14, 2012 - Alameda County Family Justice Center
February 15, 2012 - West Contra Costa County Family Justice Center*
March 13, 2012 - Hung-A-Lei-Ti Community (Alpine County)*
March 14, 2012 - Sacramento County Family Justice Center*
April 5, 2012 - Imperial County Family Justice Center*
May 8, 2012 - Sonoma County Family Justice Center
May 9, 2012 - Solano County Family Justice Center*
May 10, 2012 - Yolo County Family Justice Center*
May 21, 2012 - Shasta Family Justice Center*
June 19, 2012 - Anaheim Family Justice Center
June 20, 2012 - Valley CARES Family Justice Center (Los Angeles)

*Training dates are tentatively scheduled for these locations.

To find out more about strangulation or to receive training, visit our Resource Library at www.familyjusticecenter.org or contact Melissa Mack or call 888-511-3522.

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This project is supported all or in part by Grant No. 2011-TA-AX-KO63 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.

12/29/2011