Domestic Violence
The Yakima City Attorney’s Office takes domestic violence cases very seriously and recognizes the seriousness of the threat posed by intimate partner violence and the need for providing enhanced efforts to insure victim safety, offender accountability and swift justice in these cases.
Domestic violence advocates are available to assist victims of domestic violence. They can answer questions about obtaining protection orders, how the criminal process works and the status of a specific case. The advocates are not employees of this office and can serve as a victim’s link to this office. The advocates can also connect victims to resources for assistance in the community. Individuals do not need to be a victim in a current case to speak with the advocates. They can be contacted at 509-248-7796 – 24 hours each day/7 days a week.
What is Domestic Violence?
Domestic Violence is the use of violence, or the threat of violence, to gain power and control over an intimate partner. An intimate partner includes a spouse, a former spouse, a live-in partner or former live-in partner, a boyfriend or girlfriend or a former boyfriend or girlfriend, or a parent of a child in common. Domestic Violence is a crime.
Domestic Violence is often accompanied by other kinds of abuse including emotional abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse, animal abuse, psychological abuse and verbal abuse. Certain kinds of abuse, like sexual abuse and animal abuse, are also crimes. Other kinds of abuse, like verbal abuse, are not crimes. Whether or not the abuse is a crime, it is often part of a larger pattern of conduct used to gain power and control.
Victims of domestic violence are often told that the violence and abuse directed at them is their fault. It is not. If you are the victim of domestic violence, it is not your fault.
As part of the City Attorney’s Office’s commitment to ending domestic violence, the Office works closely with the YWCA. Cases are handled by a team of professionals that include a Prosecutor and a Victim Advocate. Victim Advocates assist domestic violence victims as the case moves through the criminal justice system. They can assist victims in locating emergency shelters and other support services. Victim Advocates can also help domestic violence victims contact the Victim-Witness Assistance Program so that they can seek financial assistance.