After being arrested on domestic assault charges, you may have already consulted with legal counsel to learn about the penalties Missouri imposes in cases like yours if you’re convicted. However, you may also wonder about how these charges and any potential conviction may impact your family dynamic or career.
How domestic assault charges affect family dynamics
While the criminal and civil court systems are different, it’s not uncommon for a husband or wife to cite their spouse’s impending criminal domestic assault charges as one of the reasons they would like for a family law judge to issue an order of protection.
The threshold is generally fairly low for securing an initial emergency, or ex-parte, order of protection. This order only remains in effect temporarily. A petitioner (your spouse) can request a full order of protection at a future hearing.
Either one of these protection order hearings can be accompanied by petitions for child custody schedule modifications, affecting your ability to return to your home and your ability to communicate with or see your spouse or children.
Reestablishing custody if lost may prove to be an uphill battle. The recency of any potential conviction, the severity of the offense and whether any violence was directed at the child are likely to affect how difficult it is to resecure custodial rights.
How domestic assault convictions may affect career options
Many employers and professional licensing boards perform background checks on their employees and prospective licensees. Many jurisdictions’ laws allow employers to condition their extension of an offer of employment on a prospective employee’s successful passing of a background check.
An outstanding order of protection or arrest or conviction on domestic assault charges may affect your ability to secure certain jobs, such as ones involving close human contact like ones in the education or the medical field require. A protection order or any pending domestic assault charges or convictions may also limit your ability to pursue a career in the military or law enforcement since you must be able to lawfully bear arms in these roles. Anyone with an outstanding protection order against them or someone who has been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony domestic assault charge generally loses their right to own, possess or use a firearm.
There are many other ramifications that domestic assault charges and convictions may cause on individuals’ lives. However, the potential impact of this criminal offense on a person’s family dynamic and ability to support oneself with employment are often enough to send home the severity of such charges.
