A bill that makes strangulation, a violent form of assault seen frequently in domestic-abuse cases, a free-standing criminal offense is now the law in Pennsylvania.

State Rep. Becky Corbin, R-155, who introduced the bill, was joined by Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan; Deputy District Attorney Michelle Frei, who leads domestic violence prosecutions in Chester County; and Dolly Wideman-Scott, executive director of the Domestic Violence Center of Chester County, to applaud the news.

“Medical experts and police describe strangulation as an especially cruel form of assault,” said Corbin in a press release. “Victims can slip in and out of consciousness, experiencing fear and terror each time they regain consciousness until the attacker relents. It is a crime most often carried out by someone who knows the victim intimately. Pennsylvania has now joined 35 other states in recognizing strangulation as the violent crime it truly is.”

Hogan explained that the law gives prosecutors and police another tool to fight domestic violence. “Choking a victim is a red flag for extreme violence. However, such cases historically were difficult to prosecute because the conduct often does not leave visible injuries, despite both the life-threatening result and the psychological harm inflicted on the victim,” Hogan said in the release.

Because strangulation did not fit into existing criminal categories in Pennsylvania, offenders were often charged with a low-level misdemeanor that did not reflect the serious nature of the crime. “This legislation closes that loop-hole,” Hogan said.

The bill makes it a crime to apply pressure to the throat or neck of a victim, or to otherwise block the nose and mouth of the victim. The offense is a felony if: (1) the victim is a family or household member; (2) the defendant is subject to a protection-from-abuse order related to the victim; (3) the defendant has a previous strangulation conviction; or (4) multiple other factors. If none of the aggravating factors apply, the offense is a misdemeanor, the release said.

The legislation’s history began when Frei, who had seen repeated examples of strangulation as a precursor to more extreme violence, was handling the prosecution of James Hvizda, whose longstanding abuse of his wife escalated to a fatal stabbing in March 2012 in Upper Uwchlan Township. The Domestic Violence Center and the District Attorney’s Office began to implement the Lethality Assessment Program, a tool used in domestic violence situations to gauge the level of danger to the victims by asking a series of questions.

One of the specific red flags raised by LAP is prior choking or strangulation of the victim by the defendant. Simply put, if the defendant has been choking the victim, the defendant is moving along a path to extreme violence, including a potential murder, the release said.

Frei then began to research strangulation legislation. She found that over 30 other states already had passed strangulation legislation. She then drafted a proposed strangulation statute for Pennsylvania and approached Corbin, a strong advocate for crime victims who agreed to sponsor the bill, the release said.

Through Corbin’s efforts, the strangulation bill eventually garnered bipartisan support. The Pennsylvania House approved the bill by a vote of 184 to 3, and the Pennsylvania Senate voted 50 to 0 in favor of the bill. Gov. Wolf signed the bill into law on Wednesday, Oct. 26.

Wideman-Scott expressed gratitude to Corbin on behalf of victims. “Domestic violence victims come to us damaged both physically and emotionally,” Wideman-Scott said in the release. “Over and over again, we see choking as part of this horrible pattern of abuse.”

Corbin said her hope was that many potential victims would be protected. “At the end of the day, this legislation is about saving lives,” she said in the release. “If this bill protects a single victim from being hurt or killed, it will have been worth all of the effort.”