Domestic violence is far less common today than it was 30 years ago. Like drunk driving, it has become socially unacceptable and frequently prosecuted. It still persists but at a much lower level.
Now the challenge is dealing with false allegations of domestic violence. If you ask any family law attorney they will tell you that the false allegation of domestic violence has become a tactic in divorce and child custody cases. This is a tragedy that hurts the real victims by making everyone in the system suspicious of all DV claims.
If you are a victim of DV, you need to have better proof than just your sworn testimony to overcome the skepticism. If the assault left marks, have someone take photographs of the bruises or scratches. Use a high-quality camera if possible so the photos will be clear enough when made into an 8×10 print.
If the injury is hard to see in the pictures, keep trying with better lighting until they are clear. A poor quality photo is generally useless. Once you have clear photographs, store the digital files in five different places where the abuser cannot access them.
If you are using your cell phone don’t just accumulate them in the device itself. There is nothing more frustrating than a case where my client HAD great evidence but it has been lost because the abuser got access to the phone and deleted the photos or destroyed the phone. Send the pictures to friends and relatives to hold for later use and use free cloud storage like Google Drive to preserve the files to show the court if you ever have to prove the abuse.
Tell people about the abuse when it happens. It’s ok to ask them to keep the information confidential while you accumulate evidence. Your statements can later be used to disprove any suggestion that you have just recently fabricated your story of past abuse.
Show the physical marks left by the abuse to several people, if you can. The people who see them can later corroborate your version of what happened when the abuser denies it. You need to have as much corroboration as you can to convince the court that you are not making up a story to get an advantage in your divorce or child custody case.
