trangulation is one of the most lethal forms of domestic violence and sexual assault. For that reason, Pathways to Hope for Children partnered up with First 5 Shasta and One Safe Place for a two-day training course to teach strategies to properly assess nonfatal strangulation.
Angela Mellis, the program manager of the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office’s Crime Victims Assistance Center, spoke with KRCR on Monday about why this training program is so crucial for the community, “equipping our community partners and our law enforcement partners with this knowledge is very important so that we can work together, as a collaborative team, in order to prosecute these cases and also serve the victims.”
With how prevalent strangulations are, just how lethal are they? The CEO of Alliance for HOPE International, Gael Strack, says they can be around 70% fatal, depending on the study.
“In domestic violence cases, we are seeing the strangled victim is the ‘high-risk victim.” And most of our victims that are calling the police, seeking medical attention, and talking to an advocate, are the ones being strangled,” Strack explained. “And, depending on which study you read, it’s anywhere from 68% all the way to 80% [fatal].”
Strack says knowing the signs could mean the difference between life or death. “It’s absolutely critical that professionals know the signs and symptoms of strangulation. It could mean a life or a death. If a person is strangled one time, she is 750% more likely to be killed by her abuser.”
Dr. Sean Dugan with the Shasta Community Health Center has seen, firsthand, the impacts of strangulation assault crimes. He said only half of the victims show visible physical harm.
“Only 50% of patients who are strangled have visible injury,” Dr. Dugan said. “If there is physical injury, you can see bruising, redness, and patients will complain of areas that are sore. Sometimes, it can look swollen on one side or both sides.”
And, according to Dr. Dugan, it’s more common than you might think. “We see a lot of domestic violence in Shasta County…the studies have shown that we have about 65% higher rates of domestic violence than the state average.”
Part of what they learn in the training is how to advocate for survivors’ medical and safety needs in assault court cases. “Survivors, who have to come to court to testify, are often very nervous about that process,” Dr. Dugan explains. “And we have advocates in the District Attorney’s office who work hand-in-hand with those survivors in order to prepare them for court. And, our advocates attend court with victims in order to ease that transition.”
By educating the community, locally, they hope to achieve change system-wide.
Source: Tyler Van Dyke, KRCR. Click here to view original post.