Crimes Amendment (Non-Fatal Strangulation) Bill 2023

With the introduction of the Crimes Amendment (Non-fatal Strangulation) Bill 2023, the reform creates two new offences.

First, an offence of intentional non-fatal strangulation, which does not require proof of injury and will carry a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.

Secondly, the more serious offence of non-fatal strangulation where a perpetrator intentionally causes injury will carry a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.

The Bill also makes consequential amendments to the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 which insert that choking, strangling and suffocation of a family member are behaviours that constitute family violence.

The amendments to the Bill define ‘chokes, strangles or suffocates’ as doing any of the following things:

• Applying pressure to the front or sides of a person’s neck;
• Obstructing any part of, or interfering with the operation of, a person’s respiratory system or accessory systems of respiration;
• Impeding a person’s respirations.

Non-fatal strangulation will not always leave physical signs or injuries.

In the Executive Summary of the Bill Brief paper, it states: “A person who has been strangled by their intimate partner is six or seven times more likely than other victim-survivors of family violence to be killed, or to be seriously harmed, in the weeks or months that follow”.

In the circumstances of family violence, non-fatal strangulation can indicate an ongoing or escalating pattern of coercive control behaviour by the perpetrator.

In essence, non-fatal strangulation criminalises choking, strangling or suffocating a family member and the more serious charge where a perpetrator intentionally causes injury by non-fatal strangulation.

The offence of intentional non-fatal strangulation will accompany a consent defence. In the context of sexual activity, this will be an affirmative consent defence to ensure that the same standards which apply in sexual offences also apply to sexual non-fatal strangulation. This defence provides protection for people who have engaged in genuinely consensual non-fatal strangulation during sexual activity and no intentional injury has occurred.  

The two new standalone offences came into effect on 13 October 2024.

At Nelson Brown Legal we are specialists with the new legislation and have the expertise and experience to represent and assist those facing a charge under the two new offences. Contact us today for a confidential consultation and expert legal advice.

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