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What Constitutes Domestic Violence?
Domestic violence is becoming a common occurrence in modern society, which is terrible. However, the false accusations of domestic violence are also increasing with each passing day, which is not only unfortunate, but also unfair and extremely mentally tasking for the unfairly accused individuals. If you’re facing such unjust accusations, it’s important to first learn more about what domestic violence is before San Diego’s prominent domestic violence attorney.
What is domestic violence?
The United States Department of Justice defines domestic violence as a usually repetitive pattern of abusive behavior within a certain relationship. The main characteristic of domestic violence is that one partner uses it to assert control over the other partner within the same relationship.
At times, abusers committing domestic violence are not even aware that they are guilty of it. Also, some victims do not take action to protect themselves from the abuser because they too are not aware they are experiencing domestic abuse.
However, there are also numerous instances of a partner falsely reporting domestic violence where it didn’t occur, causing severe problems for the unjustly accused individual. Knowing what exactly constitutes domestic violence can help both actual victims report the crime, and the defendant prove their innocence.
What are the different types of domestic violence?
The definition of domestic violence includes several different types of abusive behavior. Here are the subcategories of domestic violence, as listed by the DoJ:
Physical violence
Physical abuse is the type of domestic violence that includes various physically abusive behavior, ranging from biting, hitting, punching, and slapping to pinching, hair pulling, and shoving. Additionally, forcing someone to use alcohol and drugs and denying medical treatment to an individual is also a form of physical violence.
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse is the process of an individual coercing or trying to coerce a victim to have sexual relations, as well as sexual behavior without explicit consent of the victim. Most common forms of sexual abuse are marital rape, physical violence followed by unwanted sex, and attacks on victim’s sexual parts.
Emotional abuse
Emotional abuse is, perhaps, the most overlooked form of domestic abuse in the United States. It involves lowering the victim’s sense of self-esteem and self-worth through constant criticism. It also includes affecting your partner’s relationship with the children.
Economic abuse
Emotional abuse occurs when an individual tries or succeeds to make their partner or spouse economically reliant by taking control of their finances. This happens when they refuse to give them the financial resources they need or make them ask and beg for them.
Psychological abuse
While similar to emotional abuse, psychological forms of domestic violence actually can actually be more damaging. The abuser maintains control in the relationship through constant intimidation and fear of actual physical violence, destruction of the victim’s property, harmful behavior towards their pets, and other forms of fear-inductive behavior.
Stalking & cyberstalking
Whether in real life or through the use of the internet and social media, stalking is also a type of domestic abuse. Stalking includes spying, harassing, watching, sending unwanted gifts, phoning the victim, leaving messages, and appearing at the victim’s location before consent.
Who is San Diego’s leading domestic violence attorney?
If you’re facing untrue and unsubstantiated domestic violence charges, there are several things you should do. First, you have to thoroughly prepare for your domestic violence application hearing. You should also consider finding legal representation, as there are many benefits of hiring an experienced domestic violence lawyer. However, make sure to ask your potential lawyer the right questions to ensure they’re the experts for the job.
Or you can make it easy on yourself and immediately hire the most qualified domestic violence defense attorney in San Diego – Vik Monder of Monder Criminal Lawyer Group. Vik has years of experience helping clients successfully refute their domestic violence charges, and he is here to help you out too. Monder offices are located very near Petco Park, so you will easily find them for your free consultation. Give us a call today!
