Defending Women Against Domestic Violence Charges

If you are a woman arrested for Domestic Violence in the Tampa Bay Area including St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Pinellas County, Tampa, Hillsborough County, or surrounding counties, contact the Morris Law Firm, St. Petersburg Criminal Attorney, for gender specific and compassionate representation.

Special Defenses for Women Charged with Domestic Violence in Florida

Florida, like other states, has implemented stricter laws and policies directing police to treat domestic violence as a serious violent crime. This has led to increasing arrest rates of women for domestic violence. Throughout the Tampa Bay area, the percentage of domestic violence arrests of women by local police agencies has skyrocketed to more than 30 percent of all domestic violence arrests.

Why Women Have Become the Target of Domestic Violence Arrests:

There are many reasons why women are being arrested more and more often for domestic violence, with many of these causes proving to be valuable defenses in the criminal cases.

Law Enforcement bias can affect how women are treated in a domestic violence investigation. Male (and even female) law enforcement officers can sometimes harbor hostility against women. This bias along with the officer’s resentment of having to treat domestic violence as serious crime (as a matter of department policy) may motivate the arrest.

Oftentimes, officers fail to properly determine the dominant aggressor in a domestic violence investigation. Officers regularly fail to correctly identify defensive wounds, and as a result, they arrest the woman who was simply defending herself.

As well, the counterparties in domestic violence disputes have made the investigations more difficult by turning the law enforcement officer’s attention to the woman involved by calling 911 themselves and by inflicting injuries on themselves before police arrive.

What To Do Next:

If You Are a Woman Arrested For Domestic Battery:

1. Don’t speak to the police – ask to have an attorney present.
2. Don’t give a written statement – again, ask to have an attorney present.
3. Contact an attorney immediately.
4. Collect and document your own evidence. As soon as is feasible, take pictures of your injuries, even if law enforcement has already taken a set of pictures. Once the police have made a decision on who to arrest they will oftentimes collect and document only the evidence to support their decision.
5. Guard against child custody and restraining order issues. Domestic violence perpetrators often capitalize on a woman’s arrest by making a push for child custody or restraining orders. Hiring an attorney to work on your behalf to have the charges dropped will help your case in family court and ensure that you are not further ensnarled in no-contact or restraining orders.
6. Review the police report and other documentation for evidence that contradicts the perpetrator’s version of what happened. Reflect on witnesses, 911 recordings, physical evidence, neighbors, children and the like.

Time is of the essence.