What is Domestic Violence?
There are two types of domestic violence: criminal and civil. A civic domestic violence restraining order is issued when a party seek a protective order from the family law court. A criminal protective order is issued by a criminal judicial officer. There are serious consequence to having a domestic violence restraining order issued against you a perpetrator of domestic violence may not own or posses a firearm, they are not allowed to be awarded spousal support and it is a rebuttable presumption that they should not be awarded custody of their children.
Criminal domestic violence can be prosecuted either as a felony or misdemeanor generally if a victim has visible physical injuries the District Attorney with file it as a felony.