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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Shanti Das

‘A matter of life and death’: abusers who strangle partners getting off lightly, say campaigners

Profile of a woman looking out of a window between drawn curtains
Sentences for strangulation have raised alarm among domestic abuse experts. Photograph: Roos Koole/Getty Images

Abusers who strangle their partners are being given lenient punishments that fail to reflect the severity of their crimes, campaigners say, after an Observer analysis of cases prosecuted under a new law suggested inconsistencies in sentencing.

Violent offenders who committed attacks in front of children, threatened victims with knives or were convicted of multiple offences are among those spared jail in recent months, according to court records for England and Wales.

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