Non-Fatal Strangulation in Sexual Assaults with Previously Untested Sexual Assault Kits: Characteristics of the Sexual Assaults, Victims, and Perpetrators

• In Event: More Severe Violence in Sexual Assault

Abstract

This study is a companion to the methodological study using the same data. After a more nuanced measurement of non-fatal strangulation in police report narratives of rapes associated with previously untested sexual assault kits in two urban U.S. jurisdictions, we present the results comparing how sexual assaults that include non-fatal strangulation compare to sexual assaults that did not involve strangulation (n = ~2200). While nonfatal strangulation in domestic violence has been receiving increased attention more recently, nonfatal strangulation in sexual assault has received much less public and scholarly attention and is a serious and potentially lethal act that often goes unrecognized, underreported, and undocumented by law enforcement, healthcare providers, and at times, survivors. Both papers highlight an understudied issue –strangulation in sexual assault (especially non-intimate partner sexual assaults) and the need for training of law enforcement in documenting strangulation in their reports, forensic data collection, and the health, wellbeing, and healing for survivors. Lessons learned from analyzing these data inform how non-fatal strangulation sexual assaults differ and how sexual offenders use strangulation in the commission of the sexual assaults. The implications for scholarship and practice will be discussed.

Authors

• Rachel Lovell, Cleveland State University

• Wendy Regoeczi, University of South Carolina