3 ways a domestic violence conviction affects you out of court

Domestic violence charges can lead to jail time, fines and probation. However, those consequences are the official, criminal ones.

Those who plead guilty to or get convicted of domestic violence offenses may find that they have to endure many other consequences outside of the courtroom. These extrajudicial penalties are each a good reason to try to defend yourself against those pending charges.

The loss of your Second Amendment rights

A domestic violence charge does not need to be a felony for it to strip you of your right to legally possess and use a firearm. Any domestic violence conviction will impact your right to own a gun, possibly for the rest of your life. If you get caught with a firearm after a conviction, you could easily find yourself facing a weapons offense.

Career consequences

If you have a job that requires access to a firearm, then a domestic violence conviction might immediately end your career. Regardless of where you work, a conviction for a violent offense might trigger a clause in your employment contract that allows your employer to summarily terminate you. In the future, whenever you look for a new job or apply for a promotion, the background check will likely turn up the details of your conviction and limit your options.

Housing problems

Domestic violence convictions often come with restrictions on your behavior. You may have an order of no contact with the alleged victim or an order to move out of what was once your shared home. As if that weren’t bad enough, the conviction on your record might limit your options when you look for new rental housing.

Fighting back against domestic violence charges and other criminal allegations is the only real way to prevent those charges from drastically changing the course of your life.