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Office of the District Attorney
Office of the District Attorney

Family Violence Unit

The Family Violence Unit reviews, files, and prosecutes crimes of domestic violence; physical abuse, endangerment, and neglect of children, elders, and dependent adults; and child abduction crimes.

The Unit utilizes a pool of prosecutors who possess specialized skills to handle family violence cases. Significant research over the last decade has shown that different types of violence in the home are interrelated and have serious consequences for the safety of all family members, as well as for the community. For children, the danger of living in a violent home is not limited to the possibility that intimate partner violence will spill over into child abuse. To the contrary, children who observe intimate partner violence or are physically abused tend to have higher levels of behavioral problems as children, and as they become adults, are associated with higher levels of crime and substance abuse problems.

In addition to aggressively pursuing offender accountability, the Unit actively pursues an agenda that acknowledges the cycle of violence begins anew when children live in violent homes. The Unit promotes policies and procedures designed to help these children and parents overcome the effects of violence. In this way, the Unit helps prevent children from becoming violent adults and or adult victims.

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