Recognizing the Reality of Domestic Abuse
Domestic abuse is something that happens every single day in this world. But the miserable thing is that no one else would’ve known the abuse happening and the pain felt by the battered.
It never excuses anyone. It is not just physical or verbal violence alone. Be it physical or mental, the problem is often ignored or repudiated. Whether it’s physical or psychological, it creates a huge damage and impact on a person’s mental health and well-being. This is an issue that no one must never neglect or be miseducated.
What is domestic abuse?
Domestic abuse is an incident or series of incidents of violent behavior, sexual violence, and threats most commonly by a partner or ex-partner. It is mostly experienced by women and is committed by men. However, this does not mean that men do not experience such abuse at all; there is just a small possibility that men experience it. Women are more likely to encounter such abuse, particularly sexual harassment regardless of sexuality, social class, religion, or ethnicity.
One thing that comes out of the mind when people think of this abuse is that it only occurs physically and results in visible injuries. This is only one side of the story. Physical injuries aren’t the only consequences of such intolerable behavior – death could also be one of its aftermaths. There are several types of abusive behavior:
Control
This is a type of behavior that allows the batterer to showcase his superiority and dominance over the battered. Controlling behavior is often subtle, almost always insidious, and pervasive such as an invasion of privacy, monitoring the victim’s activities, actions, or phone calls, threatening to hurt, kidnap or kill the victim and/or the victim’s family, and attempting or pursuing to sexually abuse the victim.
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse is basically the use of physical and aggressive force against the victim, which could cause harm to the victim’s body. Physical abuse includes hostile physical assaults such as hitting, slapping, choking, beating to death, stabbing, and the like, as well as removing the victim’s rights to eat, drink, sleep, and go out of home
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse is a forceful and unwanted sexual activity, with batterers making threats to the victim. Long-term repercussions of such repulsive act include anxiety, fear or post-traumatic stress disorder. This may include forcing the victim to have sex with the batterer or with other people or involuntarily involve the victim or prostitution, vigorously touch the victim’s body parts, and even insulting the victim’s body or catcalling.
Verbal Abuse & Emotional Abuse
Emotional abuse and verbal abuse come together hand in hand. Emotional abuse is any behavior that includes verbal assault, isolation, intimidation, or any other treatment which degrade the dignity and self-worth of a person. Such behaviors include undermining and degradation of a person’s self-esteem, threats and accusations to cause emotional damage, name-calling, and disregarding or neglecting the victim’s needs and wants.
The California Domestic Abuse Law
Under the Penal Code Section 273.5 or the Corporal Injury to Spouse, any person who inflicts upon a person he or she holds a relationship with specified by the domestic violence laws of California and causes traumatic conditions is subjected to criminalization. These people may commonly include the batterer’s spouse or former spouse in the domestic abuse law.
In Section 242 of the Penal Code, battery is defined as an illegal use of any form of violence against another person, whether a partner, ex-partner, or what have you.
Section 243(e)(1) or Spousal Battery of the Penal Code criminalizes battery when he or she is committed against the spouse. The battery is punishable by a fine of approximately two thousand dollars ($2,000), and/or by imprisonment of not more than one year.
Another option is to allegate the defendant with the crime of battery under Section 243(d) or Aggravated Battery if the defendant was guilty of afflicting serious injuries on the battered.
The Penal Code Section 273.6(a) or Violation of Protective Order is issued when the Court issues a protective order and that order is violated, the violation itself is a criminal offense.
What can a domestic abuse lawyer do?
At times when the victim feels helpless, a lawyer is someone whom he or she could trust and seek help from. A lawyer knows every aspect of the law, therefore, knows how to help an abused victim to recover from all the pain he or she have suffered. There are things that can be done by a lawyer indubitably.
Certainly, a domestic violence lawyer can file a lawsuit that will allow the victim to recover from all the damages and sufferings. Knowledge about the law isn’t accessible to everyone, thus, it is beneficial for the victim to seek legal advice from a legal professional. This smart move will put the victim in a much more advantageous place and will have a higher chance to win the case.
A domestic violence lawyer will also help the victim get a restraining or protective order from the court. A restraining order basically helps the victim avoid making contact with the batterer. It is an order restricting both parties to meet in certain conditions and circumstances. While the litigation is ongoing, it is best for both parties, especially the side of the victim, to get a restraining order. Without this restraining order, more damages are likely to happen – worse is the possibility of the death of the victim.
Get the best Domestic Abuse Lawyer
The lawyer will also work to get the victim a custody of his or her children. The judge will treat your case as domestic violence case if, in the last 5 years a parent was convicted of domestic violence against the spouse. It is also a domestic violence case if any court has decided that one of the parents were engaged in domestic violence against the spouse or the children. Therefore, the judge may give joint or sole custody depending on the conviction of the parent who perpetrated the abuse.
Above all, a lawyer will represent you in court and deal with all the other aftermaths of the litigation. The lawyer must stay with the victim all throughout the entire process.
Sources:
https://statelaws.findlaw.com/california-law/california-domestic-violence-law.html
https://www.shouselaw.com/domestic_abuse.html
https://www.losangelescriminallawyer.pro/california-penal-code-section-273-6-pc-violating-a-restraining-p.html
http://www.lacriminaldefensepartners.com/violent-crime/domestic-violence/
https://au.reachout.com/articles/domestic-violence-and-what-you-can-do-about-it
https://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2014/09/5-things-a-domestic-violence-lawyer-can-do-that-you-probably-cant.html
http://www.courts.ca.gov/1191.htm
