If you are facing criminal charges, the repercussions could be life-changing. Even if you aren’t convicted, criminal charges could have a serious impact on your personal relationships, your professional reputation, and more. While all criminal charges should be taken seriously, it is important to note that domestic assault charges can be especially difficult to recover from. Domestic assault includes any type of violent, intentional, or reckless act inflicted on a family member or romantic partner. If you were arrested or accused of any type of domestic assault crime, make sure you understand how these charges could affect your life in both the immediate future and long-term.
Read on to learn more about how domestic assault charges could change your life.
Understanding Domestic Assault
Domestic assault is a broad term meant to encompass all different types of domestic violence. Domestic violence is any sort of intentional or reckless injury inflicted by a family member, romantic partner, cohabitant, relative, or a current or former spouse. Domestic assault can also include child abuse inflicted by the child’s adoptive parents, step-parents, biological parents, or anyone else related to the child in a similar way.
The types of charges for domestic assault may vary depending on the crime in question. Charges may include rape, child abuse, child neglect, child endangerment, kidnapping, false imprisonment, assault, battery, stalking, and elder abuse.
The Legal Penalties
If you are convicted of a domestic assault crime, there are many ways in which the legal system could penalize you. Possible penalties include jail time, imprisonment, fines, mandatory community service, and court-ordered anger management classes. These penalties will vary depending on the type of crime and its severity. For misdemeanors or minor offences, the convicted person may be held in jail for a 12-hour holding period and asked to pay fines. For more serious crimes, however, the convicted person could face multiple sentences to be served consecutively, leading to a substantial amount of jail time and hefty fines.
Lasting Repercussions
In addition to the immediate legal penalties, a person convicted of a domestic assault crime could be subjected to a probation period, and may also be restricted by the alleged victim through a restraining order. Additionally, one of the penalties for domestic assault criminal convictions is the loss of the right to possess firearms.
Domestic assault crimes could also result in a loss of employment, especially if you served time in prison. Following your prison sentence, you may be barred from your previous career because of your criminal background. For example, if you were in the military or a member of a sheriff department, your criminal history may prevent you from working in that line of work again. Also, serving time behind bars will likely make it difficult to find any type of work easily.
Additionally, the repercussions of a domestic assault conviction can seriously harm your reputation and ruin personal relationships with friends and family members. You could lose custody of your children, and you may be restricted from returning to your home if your children and spouse, or ex-spouse, live there. If you violate any restraining orders that prevent you from going near alleged victims, you could face additional jail time, as well as other legal ramifications.
If you are facing charges for domestic assault, make sure you act quickly to defend your rights and protect your future. To begin building your case today, contact Patton | Pittman Attorneys and ask for a free consultation.