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Strangling
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Strangling is compression of the neck that leads to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain.
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Strangling is compression of the neck that leads to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain. Fatal strangling typically occurs in cases of violence, accidents, and as the mechanism of suicide in hangings. Strangling does not have to be fatal; limited or interrupted strangling is practiced in erotic asphyxia, in the choking game, and is an important technique in many combat sports and self-defense systems (see Chokehold).
Strangling can be divided into three general types according to the mechanism used:
- Hanging — Suspension from a cord wound around the neck (hanging)
- Ligature strangulation — Strangulation without suspension using some form of cord-like object
- Manual strangulation — Strangulation using the fingers or other extremity
General
Strangling involves one or several mechanisms that interfere with the normal flow of oxygen into the brain:
Depending on the particular method of strangling, one or several of these typically occur in combination, but vascular obstruction is usually the main mechanism. Complete obstruction of blood flow to the brain is associated with irreversible neurological damage and death, but during strangulation there is still unimpeded blood flow in the vertebral arteries. Estimations have been made that significant occlusion of the carotid arteries and jugular veins occurs with a pressure of around 3.4 N/cm², while the trachea demands six times more at approximately 22 N/cm². As in all cases of strangulation, the rapidity of death can be affected by the susceptibility to carotid sinus stimulation. Carotid sinus reflex death is sometimes considered a mechanism of death in cases of strangulation, but it remains highly disputed. The reported time from application to unconsciousness varies from 7-14 seconds if effectively applied. chokeholds to one minute in some other cases, with death occurring minutes after unconsciousness.
Manual strangulation
Manual strangulation (also known as "throttling" in the UK) refers to strangling with the hands, fingers, or other extremities (sometimes also with blunt objects such as batons). In violence, this type of strangling is mostly done by men against women rather than against another man, because it generally requires a large disparity in physical strength between the assailant and the victim and also because men can be over twice as big as a woman in general. Depending on how the strangling is performed, it may compress the airway, interfere with the flow of blood in the neck, or work as a combination of the two. Consequently, manual strangulation may damage the larynx,, and fracture the hyoid or other bones in the neck. In cases of airway compression, manual strangling leads to the frightening sensation of air hunger and may induce violent struggling. More technical variants of manual strangulation are referred to as chokeholds, and are extensively practiced and used in various martial arts, combat sports, self-defense systems, and in military hand-to-hand combat application.
Ligature strangulation
Ligature strangulation refers to strangling with some form of cord such as rope, wire, or shoe laces, either partially or fully circumferencing the neck. Even though the mechanism of strangulation is similar, it is usually distinguished from hanging by the strangling force being something other than the person's own bodyweight. Incomplete occlusion of the carotid arteries is expected, and in cases of homicide, the victim may struggle for a period of time, with unconsciousness typically occurring in 10 to 15 seconds. Cases of ligature strangulation generally involve homicides of women, children, and the elderly, but accidents and suicides occur as well. Suicide by ligature strangulation requires that the constriction around the neck be held even after loss of consciousness, which can be accomplished with complicated knots.
Strangulation in popular culture
Strangulation has been a common theme in literature and films, especially in murder mysteries and horror films. It is usually a minor character that gets killed off in this manner.
In the horror story, Tree Strangles, Vicki Li, the protaginist, uses trees to strangle people, namely Eric Lu
In The Simpsons, when Homer finds out that his son, Bart has done or said something wrong or stupid, he yells, "Why you little—!" and strangles him in anger. Sometimes he does it for little to no reason at all.
In some of the Star Wars movies, the primary antagonist, Darth Vader, manually strangles his victims or uses The Force to do it with his mind.
Two notable strangulations occur in The Godfather:
- Early in the novel, shortly before Don Vito Corleone is attacked in front of his office, Luca Brasi visits Bruno Tattaglia and Sollozzo in a Tattaglia nightclub. Tattaglia distracts him with a drink and a cigarette, and Sollozzo pins Brasi's hand to the bar with a knife, then an unidentified murderer slips a garotte around Brasi's neck and pulls it tight.
- Near the end, after the climactic baptism scene with its multiple assassinations, Michael Corleone gives Carlo Rizzi a plane ticket and tells him to take a ride to the airport. After Carlo gets into the front seat, Peter Clemenza, in the back seat, says "Hello, Carlo," slips a garotte around his neck, and strangles him.
In both cases, Puzo notes the excretory consequences of strangulation: he states that "the sphincter" released "the body's waste" but does not specify which sphincter or what kind of waste. The movie omits this ugly detail and instead has Brasi's grimace and Rizzi kick through the windshield.
In the Jack The Ripper based 2001 film, From Hell, John Netley is killed by a garotte near the end of the movie, by one of his former cult colleagues.
In the soap opera The Young and The Restless, Ji Min Kim dies by strangulation.
In the Alfred Hitchcock movie Frenzy, the killer uses a necktie to strangle his victims.
The James Bond film The World is Not Enough features a very long sequence in which Pierce Brosnan's Bond
is strangled by villainess Electra King in a highly ornate "antique garotte".
In the soap opera Shortland Street, serial killer Joey Henderson killed his female victims by strangling them with IV tubing.
In the Drama series Desperate Housewives Mrs Martha Huber was killed after Paul Young strangled her. This was repeated in Series Five where Dave Williams strangled his Dr. after he found out his secret and tried to reveal it.
In the TVB drama Looking Back in Anger, the antagonist Hong manually strangles his adoptive mother to death in the woods.
See also
External links
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