UFV to host first-ever Canadian symposium on non-fatal strangulation

TRIGGER WARNING: Non-fatal strangulation and domestic abuse
This story contains details regarding physical violence, specifically non-fatal strangulation, which may be distressing to some readers.

Strangulation can hurt. It can kill. And it can cause serious long-term health repercussions.

It comes in various forms. It can be used as a way of manifesting anger and dominance in a conflict. It can be intentional when a perpetrator wants to kill their victim or render them unconscious before assaulting them further. It is also increasingly discussed in the context of consensual sexual activity, where it carries significant health risks.

Strangulation is also emerging as a topic of study in the criminal justice field and related areas, such as health care and social services.

To help enhance understanding of the risks associated with strangulation, the University of the Fraser Valley is hosting From Evidence to Action — a Symposium on Canada’s Response to Non-Fatal Strangulation, from May 13 to 15. This is the first-ever Canadian symposium on non-fatal strangulation, and it will feature speakers from across Canada sharing their research, policy, and practice with respect to strangulation.

Dr. Amanda McCormick of UFV’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Dr. Amanda McCormick, an associate professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at UFV, has been researching strangulation as part of her focus on intimate partner violence since the early 2020s. She worked with peers from across Canada to plan the symposium.

“Studying strangulation is important because it is a strong predictor of future violence: women who have been strangled previously by an intimate partner are 750% more likely to be killed by that partner in the future,” she notes.

Amanda adds that strangulation can be hard to detect afterwards because damage can be done without easily detectable external evidence.

“It can cause detrimental impacts to the vascular system with very little pressure — less than the pressure applied to open a can of pop. And it’s also very concerning that consensual strangulation as part of sexual activity is becoming more prevalent, exposing willing participants to risk of significant harmful outcomes.”

Amanda says that non-fatal strangulation is often a form of abuse and control.

“When men are strangling women in an abusive context, they’re often not trying to kill them, but they’re trying to show them that they could kill them if they wanted to. They are saying: ‘I have the power over whether you are going to live. I control your next breath.’ So, it’s very much a psychological form of torture and domination.”

Amanda notes that health effects can persist for months after strangulation, including strokes and brain damage caused by the deprivation of oxygen to the brain .

Adding to the challenge is that strangulation often leaves no external marks and the victim-survivor often has a hazy memory of the experience, making this a difficult crime to detect and document. Involuntary loss of bladder and bowel control is linked to strangulation, so police officers and health-care workers are increasingly being trained to look for those symptoms when investigating possible strangulation.

And recent Canadian legislation has taken steps to criminalize the act of strangulation as a form of physical assault as well as sexual assault.

“In Canada, we used to have only one way that people could be charged with a strangulation crime, and it was in order to commit another offence, such as sexual assault,” says Amanda. “But if somebody was in an abusive relationship and their partner strangled them because they were angry, you couldn’t charge them with a strangulation-specific offence. Now you can.”

Amanda leads a nationwide group called the Canadian Strangulation Community of Practice, which includes police officers, academics, victim services workers, forensic nurses, crown counsel, and coroners, along with other areas of practice.

“We’re trying to build a group with people from areas that strangulation survivors might receive services from.. We decided we need to bring this information out more broadly because there are people all the way across Canada who need more information on what we can do to better detect, document and prevent strangulation.”

The symposium will feature keynote presentations and skill-building workshops about strangulation research, policy, and practice in Canada, including: ways to support survivors who have experienced strangulation and brain injury; criminal justice system responses to strangulation as a form of abuse; strangulation trends in police, forensic nursing, and healthcare samples; strangulation case law; and consensual sexual strangulation.

The symposium is intended for practitioners, service providers, policymakers, and researchers in Canada, but is open to the general public. There are fees to attend the sessions and early bird registration closes after April 30. Find out more at:
https://strangulationsymposium.ca/

From Evidence to Action — a Symposium on Canada’s Response to Non-Fatal Strangulation takes place during National Victims and Survivors of Crime Week and is sponsored by the Department of Justice Canada and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).