Landmark legislation creating a standalone criminal offence of strangulation has been approved in the States Assembly – but not before a senior politician and former lawyer branded the move “politically motivated” and warned that the new law could deliver weaker sentences for the most serious offenders.
The Draft Crime (Strangulation) (Jersey) Law, brought forward by Home Affairs Minister Mary Le Hegarat, was passed yesterday as part of a package of five laws aiming to tackle gender-based violence.
The new law creates a specific offence of strangulation – including suffocation and choking – carrying a maximum penalty of ten years’ imprisonment and an unlimited fine.
But Deputy Sir Philip Bailhache mounted a robust challenge to the proposition during yesterday’s debate, questioning whether a new law was truly necessary, as such conduct is already covered by Jersey’s existing customary law offence of grave and criminal assault.
“I had certainly taken the view that the decision to introduce a separate offence of strangulation was a politically motivated decision,” he told the Assembly.
The former Bailiff warned the change could have unintended consequences, including reducing the maximum penalty available to the courts.
Under customary law, the most serious assault offences can carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. By contrast, the proposed statutory offence of strangulation carries a maximum penalty of ten years’ imprisonment.
“The maximum penalty under the customary law offence is one of life imprisonment, whereas the statutory offence contains a rather shorter maximum penalty,” said Deputy Bailhache.
He also highlighted procedural differences, noting that customary law offences are tried before a jury, whereas the new statutory offence would be heard by Jurats, removing the right to a jury trial for defendants charged under the new law.
Despite his reservations, Deputy Bailhache stressed he fully recognised the danger of the behaviour the legislation aims to tackle.
“Strangulation is a highly dangerous practice and we ought to structure our law in such a way as to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice,” he said.
Deputy Bailhache urged ministers to look beyond simply creating a new criminal offence, pressing for a “slightly different approach” to solving this “really toxic problem”.
Specifically, he called for children to be taught about the dangers of strangulation at school and suggested creating an offence that would make downloading an electronic image of an act of strangulation in the context of sexual intercourse illegal.
“If a man downloaded such an image, he would be guilty of an offence,” he said.
“After a few prosecutions, men might get the idea that this was a highly dangerous practice [in] which they ought not to be engaged.”
Over 100 strangulation-related crimes were recorded in Jersey between 2019 and late 2025, whilst data from the Jersey Domestic Abuse Service showed strangulation featured in a quarter of all risk assessments completed last year alone.
The new law will come into force once operational preparations – including a medical pathway for evidential assessment of strangulation injuries – are in place.
