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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 8:09 pm
Time: 8:09 pm
Results for strangulation
1 results foundAuthor: New Zealand. Law Commission. Title: Strangulation: The Case for a New Offence Summary: The Commission has been asked to report on a possible new crime of strangulation. This Report discharges that obligation. The Commission has considered: the rationale for establishing such a crime; if a crime of non-fatal strangulation is to be created, what the appropriate elements of the offence should be; what the maximum penalty should be having regard to the structure and terms of other offences in the Crimes Act 1961; and whether there are other legislative or operational options that would better address the concerns the proposed crime is intended to address. This reference forms part of a range of initiatives the Minister of Justice is considering in respect of family violence. The current government has made the scourge of family violence in New Zealand one of its highest priorities. The Police deal with over 100,000 family call-outs per year. Studies have shown that strangulation, often to the point of unconsciousness, is a common form of family violence. It is a dreadful tool for coercion and control within a domestic relationship. It is not well accommodated within the existing offences in the Crimes Act. Summary of recommendations STRANGULATION OFFENCE Part 8 of the Crimes Act 1961 should be amended to make a person who strangles or suffocates another person liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years. In that offence, "strangles or suffocates" should mean impedes normal breathing or circulation of the blood by intentionally applying force on the neck or by other means. NOTING FAMILY VIOLENCE ON THE CRIMINAL RECORD The Crimes Act should be amended to require that, if a person pleads guilty to the strangulation offence or is found guilty of the strangulation offence, and the court is satisfied that the offence was a family violence offence, the court must direct that the offence be recorded on the person's criminal record as a family violence offence. AGGRAVATING FACTOR FOR SENTENCING Section 9 of the Sentencing Act 2002 should be amended to include strangulation as an aggravating factor that must be taken into account in sentencing. OPERATIONAL CHANGES The Police family violence incident report (POL 1310) should be amended to include questions designed to screen for strangulation. The Police National Intelligence Application (NIA) should be amended to record specifically whether or not a family violence incident included an allegation of strangulation. Police who attend family violence call-outs should receive education about the prevalence, signs, symptoms and lethality of strangulation. Similar education should also be offered to judges who undertake criminal law or family law work. Details: Wellington: New Zealand Law Commission, 2016. 84p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 10, 2016 at: http://www.lawcom.govt.nz/sites/default/files/projectAvailableFormats/NZLC-R138.pdf Year: 2016 Country: New Zealand URL: http://www.lawcom.govt.nz/sites/default/files/projectAvailableFormats/NZLC-R138.pdf Shelf Number: 139364 Keywords: Family ViolenceHomicideIntimate Partner ViolenceMurderStrangulation |