How Does Domestic Violence Affect Young Children?

In the strong majority of domestic violence cases in Florida, the participants are adults who have a specific relationship to each other – for example, spouses or people residing together as a family. However, domestic violence does affect children, whether or not they are victimized by a domestic abuser or simply have seen the aftereffects. If your family has been affected by domestic violence, it is crucial that you protect yourself – but your children are not experiencing these events in a vacuum.

More Likely To Become Abusers

Studies show that over half of the intimate partner violence (IPV) that occurs in the United States takes place in relationships “where children are in the home.” Unfortunately, young children are common victims of domestic violence crimes, either because an aggressor is aware that harming the children will harm their primary victim (the other parent), or because the children are simply additional targets who cannot fight back effectively.

That said, even when children are not physically harmed, they experience severe consequences related to emotional and mental health. Florida’s statute on batterers’ intervention programs actually explicitly states that children become victims by seeing or hearing domestic violence, and run the risk of becoming victims themselves, as well as being at higher risk of becoming domestic abusers themselves.

Legal Consequences

Because the stakes are so high in most domestic violence cases, Florida law recognizes the concept of “witnessing” – that is, a child can be said to have witnessed an act of domestic violence if the act is committed either in the presence of the child, or it is perceived by the child. If this occurs, Florida will add additional penalties to a convicted abuser’s sentence, and may order that they pay for mental health counseling for the child victim.

It is also not uncommon for a person accused of domestic violence to be charged with child abuse in these cases, depending on the specific facts of the situation. Every case is different, but particularly if there has been a pattern of abuse, the court is likely to add charges if the situation warrants it. Florida’s legal system is designed to act in the best interests of the child, and nowhere is this more evident than in criminal matters.

Contact A West Palm Beach Domestic Violence Attorney

Domestic violence against adult victims is a serious enough offense, but domestic violence against children is a particularly heinous crime because of the potential damage it does to children in the long term. If you or your children have been the victims of domestic violence offenses, a West Palm Beach criminal defense attorney from Perlet & Shiner, P.A. will work hard to try and protect your family. Call our office today at (561) 721-0552 to speak to an attorney.