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Under the laws of the USA, spousal abuse
is considered a form of domestic
violence. This is a very serious crime,
irrespective of the gender involved.
Normally an incident of domestic
violence warrants a police call and the
police department is required to submit
a report. In these cases, the police is
empowered to arrest the abuser or
abusing spouse and recommend a
prosecution for felony of misdemeanor.
Only the office of the District Attorney
is empowered to drop charges in cases of
domestic violence or spousal abuse.
Although dropping of charges is rare,
most cases are known to go to trial.
Over the past few years, the penalties
for spousal abuse and domestic violence
have been revamped and become more
stringent throughout the USA. Currently,
the abuser can serve a jail term in
addition to psychological counseling
which is aimed at changing the violent
behavior of the abuser. The involvement
of drugs or alcohol in these cases may
require a recovery program to get rid of
dependencies.
Domestic violence comes in various
flavors:
·
Physically violent behavior like pulling
hair, slapping or throwing punches.
·
Forced sexual acts or behavior like
unwarranted fondling, forced intercourse
bordering on rape or insults.
·
Physical threats like trying to hitting
or use a weapon.
·
Psychological abuse like attempt to
control behavior, insulting or verbal
attacks on self-esteem.
·
Stalking that involves closely following
a person, appearing without notice at
home or workplace, phone calls or
sending messages.
·
Cyber-stalking like repeated emails or
messages causing emotional distress.
In cases of domestic violence the first
step would be to obtain a TRO (temporary
restraining order) which stipulates that
the abuser cannot have any contact with
the victim and must obey the existing
child custody or spousal support
agreements.
The initial step in cases of domestic
violence would be to call 911 for help
and take help of the police and
subsequently the legal process to ensure
the safety of the victim and his/ her
family.
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