My boyfriend is in jail. Although he did not beat me as bad as some of these stories, he did put his hands around my neck. He is being charged with felony domestic violence strangulation.

My aunt remarried after my uncle passed away. She ended up wishing she had not.

He seemed alright while they were dating. She said one time he grabbed her arm when they got into an argument, but she didn’t think he would ever hit her.

They had been married for four months when she got pregnant. He treated her fairly well after finding this out. However, one night, he came home drunk. He had convinced himself that the baby wasn’t his and that she was cheating on him.

He picked her up and carried her upstairs. He shoved her down the stairs, trying to get rid of her and the baby. When she lost consciousness, he realized what he had done and called for an ambulance.

He tried to pass it off as an accident. When she recovered, she made the truth known. Since both she and the baby lived, he could not be charged with murder, but he was charged with felony domestic violence.

I had often suspected that my neighbor was beating his wife, but I couldn’t be sure. She always seemed scared and shy, and the area around her eyes stayed dark. She wore her hair in her face, so it was hard to see if she had bruises or not.

One day around twilight, I heard her screaming. Her husband was yelling at her. I was scared to go over there because he might kill me, so I called 911.

When the cops arrived, they found her hanging from the ceiling by a hook through her shirt. He was swinging a baseball bat at her as if she were a pinata. This was a sure felony.

My cousin was abused by her father. Everyone in the family knew he was violent, but they didn’t know what to do about it. After one particular episode, they knew they had to turn him in.

Late one Friday night, my cousin had shown up at my house. She was holding her arm like it was broken, and she had a black eye. She was crying so hysterically that my parents could barely understand her.

She told us that her dad had beaten her the hardest that he ever had. She was only fourteen. My dad called the cops and reported him. He got charged with felony domestic violence.

It can be difficult for family members to report each other to the authorities. However, when they cause other family members to suffer, it becomes a bit easier.

When the cops were called to a domestic disturbance at my best friend’s home, they did not charge her abusive husband with anything. He had shoved her against a wall multiple times, and she was in pain. However, since the cops could not see any bruising, they let him off with a warning.

A few weeks later, neighbors reported another disturbance there. They walked in to find my friend beaten unconscious. They charged her husband with felony domestic violence and called an ambulance.

He had fractured some bones in her face, and she required surgery. It took months for her to recover physically, and I doubt she ever will recover emotionally.

@ManyKitties2 -I hope that your aunt is careful. I wanted to tell you that years ago I used to work as a manager of a department store and had a young female employee that had a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend because of prior violence against her.

He continued to stalk her even though there was a restraining order against him. On her last day at work she was telling me how excited she was to go away to college and her last words to me was. “You are going to miss me when I am gone.”

Later that evening her ex-boyfriend broke into her parent’s home and shot her to death in front of her mother. It was really heartbreaking. These cases always get worse, so when you see the first signs of someone being abusive you really need to get out before it is too late. No one deserves to be treated like this and this type of crime always escalates.

@Manykitties2- I wanted to add that a conviction of domestic violence cannot be expunged from the defendant’s record and will stay with him or her forever.

I was reading that this is considered a public safety crime that has a high recidivism rate which is why the information has to remain public. In some states a first time domestic violence assault results in a 3rd degree felony punishable by a minimum of five years in prison.

@manykitties2 - I am really sorry to hear about your uncle's terrible behavior. There are some people that ask, "Is domestic violence a felony? And I always want to shout at them, "Yes!"

While some cases of domestic violence can be a misdemeanor or a felony, I think that when a person is seriously hurt by someone in their home, that felony law needs to recognize it and make sure they spend a good long time in prison.

I think domestic violence is just as bad as something like felony burglary, because it also violates a person in their own home and makes them feel victimized and unsafe.

My uncle was charged with felony domestic violence a few years back after he was charged for felony battery. He has been a pretty bad alcoholic for years and while he had gotten in trouble with the law before, by getting a misdemeanor DUI, he went way too far with my aunt and he ended up seriously hurting her.

While my uncle hired a good felony attorney he still ended up with a sentence of three years in prison and will end up back in prison if he ever commits any other felonies and misdemeanors in the future. I certainly hope he has learned his lesson.