Why Don’t Women Press Domestic Battery Charges?

According to one researcher, about 70 percent of domestic violence incidents are never reported to the police. Some specific reasons that many women don’t report domestic violence or want to testify against alleged abusers are listed below. Contrary to popular myth, an alleged victim cannot “press” or “drop” criminal abuse charges. Prosecutors have the exclusive right to press charges and, unless a judge directs them otherwise, the exclusive right to drop these charges. An alleged victim is simply a witness.

A Leesburg criminal defense lawyer often convinces judges to exclude the alleged victim’s testimony. Many alleged victims are biased or otherwise not credible. We emphasize that these individuals may be telling the truth, but they aren’t credible under applicable legal standards. Occasionally, prosecutors use an obscure legal loophole to move forward with the prosecution or subpoena alleged victims and force them to testify against their will. However, in most cases, a Leesburg criminal defense lawyer gets the charges reduced or dropped.

Embarrassment

Many women are so embarrassed they wish to cover up the reality of the violence. In fact, in their minds, they are showing that they are strong because they are courageous to stand by their man. In essence, they are protecting themselves emotionally from their own feelings of embarrassment.

Thus, if they admit how horrific they are feeling about the abuse, and stand up against domestic violence by pressing charges and/or leaving, then they are admitting the reality of their circumstance, which is embarrassing. Therefore, they protect themselves from this embarrassment.

Fear of the Unknown

Many alleged victims speculate “What will my life look like if I am no longer with this person?” or “I cannot imagine what my life would be like without this person.” Since they are so fearful of what life will be like without their mate, they refuse to move forward.

Another common fear regarding the unknown is the fear of how their mate will respond if they press charges. For example, often women share that they are afraid their mates will behave even worse than they already are, such as by talking poorly about them to their children.

Dependency

Some women feel emotionally and/or financially dependent and thus willing to cope with physical violence because they feel stuck. They wish there was no violence, but they feel stuck with it. They feel if they leave the relationship, and/or if they press charges, they will no longer have what they need from their husband.

Love

To many women and men, unconditional love means loving even though they have done something wrong.

Essentially, the thinking is “I love who he is, so he just needs to improve upon his behavior. I don’t want to miss out on his love. If I press charges he will be angry at me and thus I will no longer have his love.” There are many women who can love their husbands while hating their actions.

Reach Out to a Tenacious Loudoun County Lawyer

There’s a big difference between an arrest and a conviction in criminal law. For a confidential consultation with an experienced criminal defense attorney in Leesburg, contact Simms Showers, LLP, Attorneys at Law. Convenient payment plans are available.

Source:

kpu.pressbooks.pub/nevr/chapter/why-do-survivors-not-report-to-police/