Domestic violence describes a pattern of abusive or violent behaviors which occur between spouses, significant others, intimate partners, children, siblings, parents, or other household members.
Domestic violence includes physically and emotionally abusive behaviors. Examples include:
- Physical: Punching, kicking, striking, restraining, strangling, cornering, destroying property, and violent displays
- Emotional / Verbal: Intimidating behaviors, name calling, threats to harm (you, family, friends, pets, etc.), and isolation from family and friends
- Sexual: Performing unwanted or unwelcome sexual acts
- Stalking: Repeated following, repeated attempts to contact (e.g. phone calls, text messages, showing up at work, school, residences), harassment, and intimidation by repeated unwanted behaviors
- Financial: Limiting, controlling, or denying access to money, accounts, bills, etc.
Protection From Abuse Orders (PFAs)
A PFA is a court order providing protection from harm by household or family members, persons with whom one has had a child, or sexual partners. PFAs legally protect the obtaining party and result in criminal charges for those violating it. PFAs do not provide protection from abuse by friends, strangers, or other ineligible parties.
PFAs provide protection by:
- Ordering the abuser not to abuse, harass or stalk you, your family, or your minor children.
- Ordering the abuser to have no contact with you, your children, your workplace, etc.
- Ordering the abuser to be evicted from a common home and grant possession to the victim, or in some circumstances, ordering the abuser to provide the victim with suitable alternative housing.
- Awarding temporary custody or visitation rights for minor children.
- Ordering the abuser to pay financial support or provide payment for losses incurred as a result of abuse such as medical bills and relocation expenses.
- Ordering the abuser to turn any firearms or other weapons over to the police.
PFAs can be obtained for any of the following conduct:
- Attempting to cause or causing (with or without a deadly weapon):
- Bodily injury
- Rape
- Involuntary deviate sexual intercourse
- Sexual assault
- Aggravated indecent assault
- Indecent assault
- Incest
- Placing another in reasonable fear of immediate serious bodily injury
- False imprisonment
- Physical or sexual abuse of a child
- Engaging in a course of conduct or repeatedly committing acts toward another person, including following the person, under circumstances which place the person in reasonable fear of bodily injury
Violations
Abusers can be arrested for violating a PFA. In the case of a PFA violation, a victim should contact the local police. The police can then arrest and jail the abuser. A separate hearing is held for any possible PFA violations and the judge can issue a warrant for the abuser’s arrest. A copy of a PFA must be provided to authorities before any action is taken.
Free and confidential help is available at local domestic violence agencies, which provide services such as:
- 24-hour hotlines
- Shelters
- Children’s counseling programs
- Individual and group counseling programs
- Legal advocacy / court accompaniment
- Emergency room assistance
- Help with housing and welfare assistance
- Developing an individual safety plan