Strangulation Response Initiative

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

The Clackamas County Strangulation Response Initiative (SRI) is a multi-disciplinary group of county and community professionals whose objective is to improve the identification, response and prosecution of near/non-lethal domestic violence strangulation.Strangulation is a lethal form of domestic violence and is often the last warning sign before a victim is murdered by the abuser. SRI makes incremental and permanent improvements to the systemic response to victims and perpetrators of strangulation. Through strategic planning and community assessment of service gaps, Clackamas County is making innovative community and victim-centered efforts to improve response to domestic violence strangulation. In two years of operation, the Strangulation Response Initiative dramatically transformed the understanding of and response to near/non-lethal strangulation in Clackamas County and throughout Oregon. The development of processes, procedures, forms, training, and outreach resulted in an ongoing coordinated effort that closes gaps and implements important improvements. The SRI developed protocols to improve coordination of law enforcement, medical and victim services responses. These efforts resulted in a 34% increase in the number of felony strangulation charges in Clackamas County from 2018 to 2020 and the distribution of 50 strangulation kits to local hospitals.