A new law could make choking someone a felony. The law is in an attempt to have stronger protection against domestic violence. Lawmakers say that when the law goes into affect the crime rate could majorly increase the crime rate for the first time in 20 years. Before this law, choking someone was just a misdemeanor or harassment case. Read more about the law after the jump.
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A new law that makes choking someone a felony could spark the first citywide crime increase in 20 years, police records show.
Crime has been down every year since 1991, but this year serious offenses are running about even compared to 2010. There were 67,469 so-called index crimes – including murders, rapes, robberies and burglaries – through Sunday. Records show there was one less crime through Aug. 28, 2010.
Murders are down 9% and 70 fewer people have been shot this year. But felony assaults are up nearly 8%, from 11,371 to 12,238.
Of the felony assaults this year, 1,284 involved victims who were grabbed around the throat, usually women attacked by their husbands or boyfriends.
The law took effect last November and makes it a felony to choke someone – even if the victim has no sign of injury. Before the new law, such an attack would be classified as harassment or a misdemeanor.
Without a change in the law, serious crime would be down 4% this year, police said. The tradeoff, officials say, is that violent suspects now face harsher penalties.
“The reality is that in domestic violence cases, the victims, usually women, are grabbed around the neck and choked, and the new law makes it a felony,” said Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, the NYPD’s top spokesman. “That’s a good thing. There is no reason not to make it a serious offense and to treat it as a felony.”
City Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras (D-Queens) welcomed the new law.
“The concern was that a lot of these women did everything right,” Ferreras said. “They got the order of protection. They contacted police, and then the person who attacked them was back out on the street in one or two days.”
NYDailyNews