What Happens When You Get a Domestic Violence Charge?

If you’re like many people who have been accused of domestic violence, you want to know what happens next. In fact, you need to know what happens next – your future may depend on it. So what happens when you get a domestic violence charge?

Here’s the scoop.

What Happens When You Get a Domestic Violence Charge?

Legally, domestic violence is called domestic battery or aggravated domestic battery in Illinois. Both are very serious crimes.

The state can find you guilty of domestic battery if you knowingly and without legal justification:

• Cause bodily harm to any family or household member
• Make physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with any family or household member

The state can find you guilty of aggravated domestic battery if you are committing domestic battery and knowingly cause great bodily harm, or permanent disability or disfigurement. You can also be found guilty if you strangle another individual (that means intentionally impeding a person’s normal breathing or circulation of blood by applying pressure on the throat or neck, or by blocking that person’s nose or mouth).

If you get a domestic violence charge, your timeline typically looks like this:

1. The police will arrest you.
2. Police may try to question you.
3. You’ll go to jail and be “booked,” which means they’ll collect your fingerprints and take your picture when they enter data about the situation into their system.
4. You’ll stay in jail until you pay bond to get out or a judge lets you out; alternatively, you’ll stay there until you go to court.
5. You’ll go back to court on the date and time the judge orders for you.

At any point during that timeline, you’re free to hire an attorney to help you. In fact, for many people, that’s the best choice. A domestic violence defense attorney can help ensure that your side of the story comes out in court – and while there’s never any way to predict how a judge will rule, it may be in your best interest to have a lawyer representing you.

Related: Why do domestic violence cases get dismissed?

Do You Need to Talk to a Lawyer About What Happens When You Get a Domestic Violence Charge?

If you need to talk to an attorney about what happens when you get a domestic violence charge, we’re here for you. Call us at 847-920-4540 to tell us about your case. The sooner you call us, the sooner we can get to work building your defense.