Austin Criminal Law Specialists

Domestic Violence and Children

Domestic violence in the home is unhealthy for any family. Relationships that involve rash behavior (yelling, screaming, insulting, and hitting) affect each individual on a psychological, emotional, and sometimes physical level. If there are children involved, then the level of influence increases exponentially.

The fact of the matter is that children are much more impressionable with respect to their observations than adults. Children are more inclined to assume that something is true and trust that belief. As a result, those who have grown up in an abusive home have a much more difficult time establishing deep emotional connections with other people.

Research has shown that these abused children experience more anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, and temperament problems. These symptoms are the direct result of being in a toxic family environment. Children who are at the elementary school age tend to display behavior that goes back and forth between being eager to please and being hostile. Sometimes they are very talkative about their home life and they have inadequate social development.

By the time these children reach adolescence, the symptoms can become extremely dangerous, as they may become sexually active with numerous partners, become involved with gang activity, have suicidal thoughts, or even run away from home.

These are all ways in which children that experience or witness domestic abuse show signs of trauma. If only for the children, domestic violence needs to be reduced in the United States. An estimated 3 million children are subjected to this behavior each year. Employing legal action might be one effective way of taking care of the problem. If you would like more information, contact the Austin criminal law specialists, Ian Inglis, at 512-472-1950.