Alcohol Abuse
Alcohol Abuse and Domestic Violence
Alcohol often impairs a person’s judgment, which could ultimately lead to poor decision making up-to and involving instances of domestic violence. Domestic violence is defined as behavior exhibited by one person against another in order to exact control over that other person. Often times, domestic violence issues involve husbands and wives, but this is not necessary in order to classify an act of domestic violence as such.
Examples of domestic violence brought on by alcohol abuse include:
- Verbal abuse characterized by insults and other put-downs
- Physically restraining a person from contacting others, such as family or friends
- Ensuring that a person is lacking in independence (i.e. withholding money, or not enabling a person to acquire employment in order to deter self-sufficiency)
- Physical abuse that may or may not include sexual battery – the unwanted touching of a person, typically in a sexual manner, without that person’s consent
- Threatening to cause physical harm to a person, using intimidation as a means of controlling that person
The Bureau of Justice Statistics, an extension of the United States Department of Justice reports that between 2001 and 2005, “the presence of any alcohol or drugs was reported in about 42% of all nonfatal intimate partner violence.” Both male and female victims were “equally likely to report the presence of alcohol during their victimization,” while 8% reported that “when a perpetrator was under the influence of both alcohol and drugs” and 6% reported that “their attacker was under the influence of [just] drugs.”
Misunderstandings are common in domestic violence cases in California, particularly those that involve alcohol. The circumstances under which a domestic violence act takes place can almost certainly be questioned, particularly since, in times of distress, supposed victims are likely to forget details and have clouded judgment of their own. Furthermore, if evidence is lacking, a domestic violence act may simply be a case of one person’s word against another person’s word, especially if the accusation of alcohol abuse at the time of the occurrence was not properly documented to ensure that it did in fact play a factor (i.e. an alcohol test was administered at some point soon after the act occurred). Also worth noting is that the influence of alcohol may have in fact impaired both parties in the domestic violence issue, further complicating matters and creating reasonable doubt as to who was ultimately at fault during the disturbance.
If you have been accused of a domestic violence issue, particularly one where alcohol abuse is declared to have been a determining factor, please don’t hesitate to contact the skilled lawyers at The Law Offices of Lawrence Wolf. Our experienced Los Angeles domestic abuse defense attorneys will examine every aspect of your case to help prove your innocence, and will make sure that your rights are never trampled upon. Please call us today for a free consultation, and let us help restore order to your life.
Additional Information on Domestic Violence in Los Angeles:
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