Criminal Justice Committee 21 May 2025
I was first alerted to this issue at a cross-party evening meeting. Some of the other committee members were also in attendance. I learned things that I knew nothing about. Professor White, you talked about the physical impact. I remember a statistic that I heard that night: after six seconds of strangulation, a person can lose control, become incontinent and experience lots of other physical issues, which can be permanent. You have mentioned lots of other physical issues. It is serious.
I want to ask you about something that concerns me. Both Fionas have outlined the impact that strangulation has on victims, and Fiona McMullen mentioned it being a red flag for domestic abuse. More alarming to me is that it was found in a recent survey that
“Over a third ... of 16-34 years reported being strangled/choked at least once during consensual sex”
and that half of those young people said they had consented to it. All the data from that age group is showing that they do not see themselves as victims, because it has been consensual. I think that 27 per cent said that it was “sometimes agreed” in advance.
That means that there is another dimension to the issue. As you will know, in Scots law, you cannot consent to an assault. If there is an assault, whether there is consent, it is against the law. Is there anything that you would like to tell the committee about that? Are we dealing with a wider issue? That is not exclusive to that age group. We have much smaller figures for the 55-plus age group, but it is happening there, too. Do you agree that we have a wider problem?