By Jodi Sokolowski
Buffalo Law Journal

A state Assembly bill seeks to increase the penalty for strangulation from a disorderly-conduct violation to a class B felony carrying a sentence of five to 25 years in prison.

The law could deter offenders, said Linda Ray, executive director of the Family Justice Center of Erie County.

"It's a slap on the wrist (under current law) versus serious accountability for violent behavior," she said.

The center will host a press conference Friday endorsing the bill (A-11012), sponsored by Assemblyman Dennis Gabryszak, D-Cheektowaga. While the bill was still before the Assembly's Codes Committee when the Legislature adjourned for the summer, Gabryszak has hopes that growing support could encourage legislators to pass it if a special session is held.

When he spoke at a seminar for the Kings County District Attorney's Office, which endorses the bill, video from a store security camera showed how quickly a victim can become unconscious from strangulation, he explained.

The bill, which was drafted with the help of Erie County Family Court Judge Hon. Lisa Bloch Rodwin while she was chief of the Erie County District Attorney's Domestic Violence Bureau, would also include strangulation into the definition of spousal abuse and revoke an offender's business license upon conviction.

About one-third of domestic violence cases recorded by the Family Justice Center's forensic medical unit involve strangulation. And 10 percent of violent deaths in the nation each year are due to strangulation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ray said it's more likely that an offender will use his or her bare hands in a strangulation rather than with the aid of a ligature. She stressed that strangulation is a conscious action compared to the natural reaction of choking.

"Choking is what we can do to ourselves accidentally, but we can't strangle ourselves," she said.