Domestic violence courts

As California is becoming stricter with its intimate partner abuse offenders, courts throughout the state, including those in Los Angeles County, have responded by developing special courts and procedures for both civil and criminal domestic violence cases. The major feature that domestic violence courts share is that they seek to enhance victim and child safety and ensure batterer accountability.

In short, this means that they are ready and willing to listen to everything that the complaining witness has to say and to "throw the book" at the accused. This is why it is critical to hire an experienced criminal defense lawyer who can keep the case in a traditional criminal court if possible or, if not, who is at least familiar with these courts and knows how to deal with the bias inherent within this system.

Domestic violence courts hear cases where the parties are intimate partners. Intimate partners include persons who are married, divorced, living together, have children in common, and who are or were dating. These cases apply to heterosexual and same-sex couples.

Battery against an intimate partner (more commonly called spousal abuse), sexual battery, intimidating an intimate partner, and willful infliction of injury on an intimate partner are the types of charges that may land a defendant in a California domestic violence court.

Domestic violence courts assign judges to hear special domestic abuse cases. These courts are much more in tune with how to gather all relevant information on the family before them so that the judge has a complete understanding of all the issues with which the family is dealing. Staff members help educate victims on child support and safety issues. The staff may offer counseling, housing assistance, drug treatment, referrals to social services as well as other resources depending on the needs of the family. These courts often provide victims with referrals for job training, child-care, mental health counseling, emergency medical services, temporary shelter, and the assignment of an advocate. They are victim-friendly and ruthless to the offender.

These courts monitor the progress of all family members much more closely and intervene more frequently than a traditional court would. They focus on holding the offender accountable. This means that the court conducts frequent periodic reviews, imposes heavy sanctions for noncompliance with its orders, and coordinates probation and batterer intervention programs, receiving any information that sheds a negative light on the defendant. In addition, the domestic violence court judges are well trained and have an increased level of awareness on the impact and harm to children exposed to domestic violence and decide child custody issues as well.

If a defendant's case is sent to a California domestic violence court, all hope is not lost. An experienced criminal defense lawyer who is familiar with these courts is the key to a successful defense. Hiring a skilled, knowledgeable attorney from The Kavinoky Law Firm will help ensure that a case isn't simply "processed" through the system with the usual bias that the court holds against a defendant. An aggressive defense attorney knows how to navigate the system with ease, argue all possible defenses and make sure that the judge and jury not only hear the defendant's side of the story, but believe it as well.

Domestic violence convictions carry severe penalties, ranging from heavy fines to losing one's freedom in jail or prison, to having one's children removed from his or her home. To best avoid these consequences, contact an attorney from The Kavinoky Law Firm today for a free consultation and to secure the best defense available.