Why Montana’s Legislature Must Adopt Evidence-Based Domestic Violence and Strangulation Protocols – And Defend Montanans’ Rights Against Outside Special Interests

Introduction: The Urgency of Reform

Domestic violence and strangulation remain critical public health and safety concerns in Montana. Survivors not only endure immediate physical harm but also long-term health consequences, while offenders often cycle through the justice system without meaningful intervention.

Research-backed best practices have proven effective in protecting survivors and reducing recidivism. However, Montana has yet to implement many of these policies, leaving victims vulnerable and allowing offenders to escalate their behavior unchecked.

Montana’s Legislature must not only act to protect survivors and hold offenders accountable but also defend the constitutional rights of Montanans from outside special interest groups that seek to remove bodily autonomy protections and weaken the legal framework that ensures victim safety.

The Lethality of Strangulation: A Predictive Warning Sign

Strangulation is one of the strongest indicators of future homicide in domestic violence cases. According to the Journal of Emergency Medicine (2008), a victim who has been strangled by an intimate partner is 750% more likely to be killed by that partner later.

The Long-Term Health Effects on Survivors

Even if a strangulation victim appears fine, the damage may be internal and delayed, resulting in:

• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): Cognitive impairment, memory loss, chronic migraines

• Stroke Risk: Due to blood vessel damage

• Vocal Cord and Breathing Damage: Difficulty speaking or breathing

• PTSD and Mental Health Disorders: Depression, anxiety, heightened suicide risk

Despite these life-threatening consequences, Montana lacks standardized protocols for medical screenings and law enforcement responses in strangulation cases. Without intervention, survivors face severe long-term harm, and offenders are likely to escalate their violence.

Montana’s Current Gaps in Domestic Violence Response

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) highlights that effective IPV intervention must address both victim safety and offender behavior. However, Montana's current approach fails to incorporate many critical components that have been proven effective in other states.

1. Lack of Mandatory Medical Evaluations for Strangulation Survivors

Best Practice: States with mandatory strangulation screenings ensure victims receive immediate medical assessments for brain injuries, stroke risk, and internal damage.Montana’s Gap: No statewide requirement exists for automatic medical evaluations, meaning many victims go untreated, leading to potential fatalities from undiagnosed injuries.

2. Insufficient Law Enforcement and First Responder Training

 Best Practice: Advanced Strangulation Response Training has led to higher conviction rates and improved victim safety in other states. Montana’s Gap: First responders lack consistent strangulation-specific training, often failing to recognize symptoms or properly document cases, weakening prosecution efforts.

3. Inadequate Offender Accountability and Behavioral Change Programs

Best Practice: Certified Batterer Intervention Programs (BIP), combined with risk assessment tools, have been shown to significantly reduce recidivism. Montana’s Gap: Courts still refer offenders to anger management programs, which research proves are ineffective for IPV cases.Even though the statue was changed, little to no oversight to maintain those laws.  

By failing to implement these measures, Montana enables cycles of abuse to persist unchecked, putting more survivors at risk.

Outside Special Interests Are Undermining Montana’s Constitutional Protections

Montana voters have repeatedly affirmed their commitment to bodily autonomy and personal freedoms, most recently through the rejection of anti-choice and restrictive bodily autonomy measures. However, outside special interest groups are aggressively pushing legislation that erodes these constitutional protections, targeting:

• Domestic violence survivors by weakening legal frameworks that protect them.

• Bodily autonomy laws by promoting restrictive measures that control individual healthcare choices.

• Montana’s Constitution, which currently upholds strong individual rights and autonomy over personal decisions.

Montana’s Constitutional Protections Must Be Defended

The Montana Constitution explicitly protects individual rights, including:

• Article II, Section 10 – Right to Privacy: “The right of individual privacy is essential to the well-being of a free society and shall not be infringed without the showing of a compelling state interest.”

• Article II, Section 4 – Equal Protection and Individual Dignity: “No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws.”

Additionally, Montana voters recently rejected measures attempting to restrict bodily autonomy, making it clear that the people of Montana do not want government overreach into their personal decisions.

• Amendment CI-128 protects the right to abortion, including the ability to make decisions about pregnancy. The amendment also protects the health and life of the pregnant person. 

Yet special interest groups, many funded from outside the state, continue pushing unconstitutional legislation that violates these rights. If domestic violence and strangulation protections are not prioritized, these same groups will continue targeting Montana’s legal frameworks to further erode bodily autonomy protections.

Legislative Solutions: A Data-Driven Path Forward

The Montana Legislature has a duty to implement policies that are backed by research and proven to work. To break the cycle of IPV and strangulation, lawmakers must take the following actions:

Mandate Medical Screenings for Strangulation Survivors

• Require automatic medical evaluations for all suspected strangulation cases, ensuring hidden injuries are diagnosed and treated.

Implement Strangulation-Specific Law Enforcement Training

• Provide specialized training for officers and first responders to recognize, document, and prosecute strangulation cases effectively.

Require Evidence-Based Intervention for Offenders

• End referrals to anger management programs and instead mandate Certified Batterer Intervention Programs (BIP)

• Expand education and oversight of policies already expected for judges, lawyers, and law enforcment. Expand the use of validated risk assessment tools.

 Enhance Legal Consequences for Strangulation and Repeat IPV Offenses

• Classify strangulation as a felony offense with mandatory minimum sentencing.

• Increase monitoring and post-release supervision of convicted IPV offenders.

Montana Must Protect Its Residents and Defend Against External Threats

Without action, Montana will continue to allow intimate partner violence to escalate, leading to more preventable deaths and long-term trauma for survivors.

Additionally, failing to protect bodily autonomy in IPV cases opens the door for further erosion of Montanans’ rights by outside special interest groups. 

The Montana Constitution and recent voter mandates clearly support the right of individuals to make decisions about their own bodies—including the right to safety and protection from domestic violence.

By implementing proven, evidence-based domestic violence and strangulation response protocols, the Montana Legislature can:Reduce IPV-related homicidesImprove long-term survivor health outcomes

 Hold offenders accountable and change their behavior

 Ensure justice and safety for all MontanansDefend Montana’s constitutional protections against outside influence

Montana must not repeat the mistakes of history by failing to act. The time for legislative change is now—lives depend on it.