Amendment 137
Moved by
137: After Clause 65, insert the following new
Clause—
“Offence of non-fatal strangulation or suffocation
(1) A person (“A”) commits an offence if that person
intentionally strangles or suffocates another person (“B”), where
the strangulation or suffocation does not result in B’s death.(2) A
strangles or suffocates B if A impedes B’s breathing, blood
circulation, or both, by doing any of the following (manually or
using any aid)—(a) blocking B’s nose, mouth, or both; or(b)
applying pressure on, or to, B’s throat, neck, chest or more than
one of these.(3) A person guilty of an offence under this section
is liable—(a) on summary conviction—(i) to imprisonment for a term
not exceeding 12 months (or six months, if the offence was
committed before the coming into force of paragraph 24(2) of
Schedule 22 to the Sentencing Act 2020), or(ii) to a fine, or
both;(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term
not exceeding 7 years, or to a fine, or both.”
(Con)
[V]:...We can be even more confident about this knowing that
the Police Superintendents’ Associationsupports
this new offence. That speaks volumes because its members include
the public protection police leads, who deal with domestic abuse.
These are senior officers with specialist knowledge; they know what
makes a difference on the ground. Given that this is a grave and
frequently occurring offence, it is important to get it on the
statute book as soon as possible. I appreciate that the Committee
will not want to rush this. As the noble Lord, , said
at Second Reading,
“hurried law can be bad law”.—[Official Report, 5/1/21; col.
92.]
(Lab)
[V]:...The noble Baroness, Lady Newlove, as we know,
is the distinguished former Victims’ Commissioner, and I
understand that Dame , the
present commissioner, and Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse
commissioner designate, are also committed to these amendments.
The noble Baroness has said today that the Police
Superintendents’ Association—comprising all chief
superintendents, who are in charge of public protection units
across the country, which will include domestic abuse specialist
officers—also support the amendment. It sees the benefits of a
stand-alone offence of non-fatal strangulation or suffocation to
charging regimes, to more serious custodial sentences and to
better police training and information...
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