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Troy 52-4 District Court - Domestic Violence Criminal Lawyer

There is no single definition of domestic violence. The state standards for batterer intervention programs define the phrase domestic violence as “a pattern of controlling behaviors, some of which are criminal, that includes but is not limited to physical assaults, sexual assaults, emotional abuse, isolation, economic coercion, threats, stalking and intimidation. These behaviors are used by the batterer in an effort to control the intimate partner. The behavior may be directed at others with the effect of controlling the intimate partner.” Criminal law defines domestic assault as an assault or assault and battery by a current or former intimate partner of the victim or resident of the victim’s household. MCL 750.81.

The enabling act establishing the domestic violence prevention and treatment board, MCL 400.1501 et seq., defines the phrase domestic violence as the occurrence of any of the following acts that is not an act of self-defense:

• Causing or attempting to cause physical or mental harm to a family or household member.
• Placing a family or household member in fear of physical or mental harm.
• Causing or attempting to cause a family or household member to engage in involuntary sexual activity by force, threat of force, or duress.
• Engaging in activity toward a family or household member that would cause a reasonable person to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed, or molested.

A “family or household member” includes a spouse, a former spouse, an individual with whom the person resides or has resided, an individual with whom the person has or has had a dating or sexual relationship, an individual with whom the person is related or was formerly related by marriage, an individual with whom the person has a child in common, or the minor child of any such individual. MCL 400.1501. By definition, domestic violence may exist in same-sex households, and same-sex partners or former partners are afforded the same protections available to opposite-sex partners.

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