Applying the Strangulation Research To Expert Testimony

It’s here, folks: Applying the Strangulation Research to Expert Testimony is now available for purchase in the store. A couple of things I’d like to mention–first of all it’s more expensive than the previous ones ($9.99) because it’s almost three times the length. So for all of you who will want to know why the big jump in price from the other two, there you go. The other thing I’d like to mention is this–these compilations don’t make me rich. Yes, you technically can share these compilations amongst yourselves once one person purchases it, but I ask you to buy individual copies where possible. An unbelievable amount of time went into this, as is this case with everything I publish here.

In putting this together, my hope is to improve the quality of expert testimony in cases of adult non-fatal strangulation. Patients shouldn’t luck into competent trial testimony by their forensic clinician. I truly believe this, which is what drives every single one of these compilations.  I hear a lot of weakly informed opinions on the stand and a lot of strangulation testimony not grounded in much more than information people have picked up from a lecture they’ve heard or course they’ve taken. Often clinicians have never read the primary sources from which they are pulling supporting statistics or conclusions, making their statements vulnerable on cross. I am trying to make it simpler for people to identify and access the evidence base, so that testimony can be presented from a scientifically sound foundation where possible. And so that we can acknowledge the left and right limits of the research when asked, and develop a program of research to close the gaps.

Because we are at the point where we have the ability to do so, I am also now offering all three of the FHO research compilations (Consensual Sex Injury, Aging Bruises and Strangulation Injury) as a single downloadable zip file. That one is $16.99, so it basically saves you three bucks when you buy them as a set.

The Store page looks wonky for reasons beyond my technical abilities, so I am trying to get that worked out–but everything seems to be working. Contact me if you have any issues. As always I look forward to your feedback (and I am taking ideas for the next research compilation, although it’ll be a few months before I start it).