How Can I Report Domestic Violence?
An important priority is to ensure the safety of you and your child. In an emergency, the police will be present and, if necessary and lawful, arrest the offender and take all the steps required to protect him from further harm.
If you are a victim of domestic violence or know someone who needs legal help, if your life is in danger, contact a California criminal law firm immediately. Staff will ensure you are treated with respect and stay away from those responsible for domestic violence. All necessary measures will be taken. The team will keep in touch and communicate with you during the investigation.
You can call a domestic violence lawyer directly to check the status of your case or discuss any concerns. Victims of domestic violence often need temporary or long-term alternative housing. You may need advice and moral support to prevent the offender from approaching you. Experienced consultants will help you and your family with further treatment.
If you need to attend court for any reason, support services are also available so that you are not overwhelmed or alienated from the legal process. If you are a victim of domestic violence, it is essential to protect yourself or your child from harm or threats. A person named in a court order can be arrested if they violate applicable laws.
Victims of domestic violence often have no idea they are dealing with it. Unfortunately, there are still many stereotypes in society that help to hide its diversity. It is psychologically challenging when an attacker belittles, manipulates, ignores, or criticizes your thoughts, feelings, and desires. This type of violence involves intimidation, harassment, and constant control by the perpetrators.
It also includes discrimination, blackmail, etc., based on belief, religion, nationality, race, or origin. It can also damage your property, deprive you of access to food, shelter, and property, limit your opportunities for employment or education, and force you into begging. In physical terms, for the attacker, this means causing injury, restricting your freedom, and not letting you out of the house.
Domestic violence is the forced use of alcohol or drugs, the threat of death or the creation of a situation that threatens life or your safety, forced movement within the country or abroad, and deprivation of food, sleep or rest. If you have experienced any violence or know you are at risk of violence, the most important rule is not to accept it and seek the help of qualified lawyers who can quickly solve the problem.
Step-by-step instructions – what to do for victims of domestic violence
Point 1. Call the police immediately. When calling the police, remember to explain your situation in detail to the police officers, who will respond accordingly to domestic violence calls. A follow-up call to the police will help confirm that such a call was made unless the police take appropriate action.
Patrol units will document all signs of domestic violence and accept the following legal action: They will draw up a protocol on an administrative offence and, together with the collected police documents on the detection of domestic violence, will later send it to the court.
In well-founded cases, the perpetrator will be detained. If, for some reason, you did not call the police and did not register the fact of domestic violence when it happened, contact the local police station and write a statement to bring the perpetrator to justice.
Point 2. If you are a victim of domestic violence, seek emergency medical care at the emergency room or the medical examiner’s office to document your injuries and assess their severity promptly. This will help bring the criminal to justice in the future.
Point 3. In case of physical or domestic violence, we recommend you immediately contact the police and submit a written statement about the commission of a crime. If available, it is necessary to provide a copy of the conclusion of the forensic medical examination.
Point 4. Exercise Your Right to a Restraining Order. A restraining order is one or more measures that temporarily limit the offender’s rights or impose obligations on him to ensure the victim’s safety. The decision on suspension must be made in court at the victim’s residence.
Point 5. If you need legal aid, exercise your right to it and contact your local legal aid center, where experienced lawyers work and provide their services. One of the categories to which legal aid is provided is persons who have suffered from domestic violence. If you find yourself a hostage in such a situation, you can freely represent your interests in court and other state and local government bodies.
What is meant by the phenomenon of “domestic violence” from the point of view of the law?
Violence in the family – an act of violence committed in the family or within the limits of the place of residence or between relatives, or between former or current spouses, or between other persons who live together in the same family but are not in the family ties languages or were not married, regardless of whether the perpetrator of domestic violence lives in the same place as the victim.
At the same time, earlier incidents between spouses were considered domestic violence, and the circle of persons is expanding, including ex-spouses and civil marriages. A wide range of persons are recognized as perpetrators: adoptive parents, persons who live or have lived together in the same family, brothers, sisters, guardians, and other relatives – uncle, aunt, nieces, brothers, sisters, grandfathers, and grandmothers.
What does economic and psychological violence mean?
Economic violence in law means intentionally depriving them of housing, food, clothing, other property, financial resources or documents or the ability to deal with them, leaving them unattended, forbidding them to work, forcing them to work, forbidding them to study and other crimes of an economic nature.
According to the law, psychological violence is a verbal insult, threats to third parties, humiliation, harassment, intimidation, and other actions to limit a person’s will and control. Fear for one’s safety or the safety of third parties caused a lack of emotional security, and the inability to protect oneself disturbed a person’s mental health. Too often, people say, “it’s just a fight”, “it’s just jealousy”, and “it’s normal” when it comes to psychological abuse, but it’s not normal. It degrades honour and human dignity – it is violence.
Such violence can be proven by witnesses (neighbors, relatives) and by calling the police. Domestic violence is any intentional act of physical abuse by one family member against another family member. Domestic violence is understood as all actions that violate the constitutional rights and freedoms of a family member as a person and citizen, cause him moral harm, and damage his physical and mental health.
All of these acts occur within a family or a place of residence or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the offender lives in the same place as the victim or not the offender lived in that in the same place as the victim or not.
How Can I Report Domestic Violence: What measures can be taken against perpetrators of domestic violence?
An emergency measure is a measure against family violence to immediately stop family violence, eliminate the threat to the life and health of persons affected by violence, and prevent the continuation or repetition of this type of violence.
This means an immediate end to domestic physical violence. The immediate termination of domestic physical violence limits the access of the perpetrator of domestic violence to the apartment where the victim lives.
An urgent order is issued at the request of the injured party, as well as at the police’s initiative, based on the results of a risk assessment. It is forbidden to enter and stay at the place of residence of the victim and to have any contact with him.
The criminal must leave the place of residence of the victim. A restraining order is a temporary restriction of rights or imposition of duties on a person who has committed violence in the family to ensure his safety. The court issues a restraining order at the victim’s request or his representative’s request for a certain period.
Reasons for hiding the facts of committed domestic violence
Fear of punishment. Cases of violence against family members are rarely isolated. In most cases, violence occurs regularly and can last for years. A person under constant pressure, turning to lawyers who work in this field or to the police, fears that an even more severe wave of persecution awaits his abuser.
Taboo topic. Many believe it is not customary to discuss family difficulties, and people have not yet learned to speak openly and earnestly about such issues. As a result, many people worry about being embarrassed if they tell their friends or colleagues about domestic violence.
They are exceeding the measures taken. Some victims are unwilling to take risks, realizing that seeking help from law enforcement agencies will likely end their family relationships.
How can I report domestic violence: How do you know if someone has experienced domestic violence?
Understanding the cause is the first step to solving the problem. Therefore, educational activities require an open conversation about domestic violence. Despite the efforts of many public institutions that actively act in this direction, there are and will be those who remain silent and do not want qualified help. That’s why it’s essential to understand what signals they give us to know that a friend, colleague or relative has a problem that needs to be solved.
A bruise, cut or injury that the person tries to hide, complaints of sleep disturbances, significant behavioural anxiety, loss of interest in things that used to bring joy, frequent, unexpected and sudden mood changes, rapid weight loss, cessation of participation in group activities, rare communication with friends, if such behaviour was not characteristic of a person before. If you notice such changes in the conduct of someone you know, you should be alert and offer support.
