Miles Doing What Matters: Important change to DFV strangulation offence

• Criminal Code to be amended to clarify scope of strangulation offence
• Queensland Law Reform Commission (QLRC) will conduct a holistic review of the strangulation offence in the Queensland Criminal Code
• The QLRC will provide a report in September 2025

The Miles Labor Government will next week move amendments to clarify the strangulation offence to ensure perpetrators are held to account.

The offence was created in 2016 in response to a recommendation from the Special Taskforce Domestic and Family Violence report, Not Now, Not Ever.

The Taskforce found strangulation was a strong indicator for increased risk of harm and a key predictor of domestic homicide.

Following a Queensland Court of Appeal decision there has been uncertainty as to whether the offence extends to the compression of a person’s neck in a manner that does not hinder breathing but does restrict or cut off blood flow.

The government will move amendments to remove any doubt, to clarify that to choke, suffocate or strangle another person includes the application of pressure to that person’s neck that completely or partially restricts the other person’s respiration, blood circulation, or both.

The maximum penalty for the strangulation offence is seven years’ imprisonment.

According to the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council, 1,971 unique individuals were sentenced for 2,012 cases involving strangulation between 2015–16 and 2022–23. These cases involved a total of 2,551 charges for the offence of strangulation.xze

Of these, 98.7 per cent received a custodial sentence.

The Attorney-General has also asked the Queensland Law Reform Commission (QLRC) to undertake a holistic review of the offence to ensure it is operating as intended. 

The QLRC has been asked to make recommendations on a number of key issues including whether:

• the requirement that the choking, strangulation or suffocation be ‘without the other person’s consent’ should be removed or amended
• the maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment for the offence appropriately reflects the gravity of the prohibited conduct.

The Commission will report back in September 2025.

Quotes attributable to the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Yvette D’Ath

“Non-fatal strangulation in a domestic and family violence relationship is a huge red flag because it indicates a person is at much higher risk of more serious violence or homicide at the hands of a current or former intimate partner.

“As Attorney-General, I introduced legislation into the Parliament in 2015 to make non-fatal strangulation a standalone offence under the Criminal Code with a maximum penalty of seven years jail.

“This was an important measure to strengthen Queensland’s response to domestic and family violence to keep women and girls safe.

“The amendments we are introducing to Parliament will help ensure our legislation captures the full range of strangulation behaviours that the Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence in Queensland considered to be risk factors for future more severe domestic and family violence and homicide.

“More broadly, after eight years of operation, it is timely to review all aspects of the legislation to ensure it is operating as intended.

“I thank the Queensland Law Reform Commission for undertaking this important task, which will help to clarify definitions and interpretation of existing provision in the Criminal Code.

“I am confident the review recommendations will inform future reform and legislative responses to ensure this offence operates as effectively as possible.”

More information

The offence of ‘Choking, suffocation or strangulation in a domestic setting’ was first added to the Criminal Code (section 315A) in 2016.

It currently prohibits the unlawful choking, suffocation or strangulation of a person, without their consent, where the perpetrator is considered to be in a domestic relationship with that other person under relevant legislation.