Dealing with violence

Monday, March 23, 2009 | 2:08 a.m.

With domestic-violence-related homicides on the rise in Clark County, Metro Police has begun testing the effectiveness of a survey that asks victims of domestic violence 11 questions designed to identify those at the highest risk of being killed.

One question asks whether the aggressor has ever tried to strangle the victim. It is a key question, as Abigail Goldman reported Wednesday in the Las Vegas Sun, because strangulation was the third most common cause of death in county domestic violence cases from 2006 through last year.

Law enforcement agencies need as many tools as possible to stamp out domestic-violence-related homicides, which rose in the county from 29 in 2007 to 49 last year. In addition, more than half of the attempted homicides tied to domestic violence last year involved choking.

Metro is hampered, though, because attempted murder charges are often pleaded down to misdemeanor offenses. That is not enough of a deterrence to perpetrators who are highly likely to attack their victims again.

That is why the Nevada Legislature should approve Assembly Bill 164, which would make an attempt to strangle someone a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. The bill, already approved by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, is backed by Metro and is co-sponsored by 43 legislators.

The bill defines the proposed felony as the intentional impeding of normal breathing or blood circulation by applying pressure on another person’s throat or neck or by blocking the victim’s nose or mouth.

Metro Capt. Vincent Cannito, who oversees the department’s Crimes Against Youth and Family Bureau, told the Sun: “It really is a very thin line between life and death when you are putting your hands on someone’s throat.”

That thin line is the very reason the legislation is necessary. An act as severe as choking is such a serious offense that it should be treated as such, not as a minor occurrence that can result in light punishment.