preview

Domestic Violence Cases

Decent Essays

Maryland, domestic violence is defined as acts such as assault, sexual offenses, actions that cause harm to one’s body, and stalking that occur between family or household members. Family and household members are people related by blood, marriage, and adoption, people who have children together, stepparents, parents, and people and parents that live together. In some situations, an officer can make an arrest who is suspected of domestic violence without a warrant. The officer must believe that the person arrested abused a family or household member and the member must have evidence that they are injured. The officer also has to believe that without arrest, the defendant can harm others, avoid arrest, or dispose evidence. There are a couple different ways an offender can be prosecuted. They can be thrown in jail and fined based on a judge’s ruling in court. The offender can also be sentenced anger management classes or community service. The degree of the penalty can also be determined by past crimes and if there is a history of domestic violence. The judge can also sentence a protective order which can either be a protection order or a peace order. …show more content…

The victim can file for a protection order if they are related to the abuser by blood, if they are current or former spouses with the abuser, and if they have been in an intimate relationship and have lived with the abuser for 90 days in the past year. The victim can file a peace order if they have not lived in a relationship for 90 days in the past year with the abuser. Peace orders have to be filed with the District’s court and protective orders can be filed with the District’s court or the Circuit

Get Access