Is domestic violence a felony?

Domestic violence generally means a violent crime against a spouse, partner or family or household member. In many states it is not one crime. It is an assault, battery or similar charge, and the relationship between the people can change the penalty.^1,2,3,4

Florida defines domestic violence as offenses such as assault, battery, stalking, kidnapping and false imprisonment, or any criminal offense that causes physical injury or death, committed by one family or household member against another. Ohio and Illinois have crimes named domestic violence and domestic battery. Texas raises the grade of assault when the victim is in a covered family or household relationship.

Who counts as a family or household member depends on the state. It often includes spouses and former spouses, people who share a child, and people who live or used to live together. Some states also include dating partners.^1,5,6

Florida's definition covers spouses, former spouses, people related by blood or marriage, people who live or once lived together as if a family, and parents of a child in common. California's battery law covers a spouse, a cohabitant, a parent of the person's child, a former spouse, a fiancé or fiancée, and a person the defendant currently has or previously had a dating or engagement relationship with. Georgia's family violence battery law covers past or present spouses, parents of the same child, parents and children, stepfamily, foster family, and others who live or used to live in the same household.

A first domestic violence offense that does not involve serious injury, strangulation or a weapon is a misdemeanor in the states we checked.^{2,3,4,5,6,7,8}

Texas makes assault that causes bodily injury to a family or household member a Class A misdemeanor unless a felony rule applies. Florida treats it as a first-degree misdemeanor battery. California makes battery on a spouse or similar person a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in county jail. Georgia makes a first family violence battery a misdemeanor, unless the person has a qualifying prior forcible felony against a household member. Illinois makes domestic battery a Class A misdemeanor. Ohio makes domestic violence a first-degree misdemeanor, or a fourth-degree misdemeanor if the offense is a threat. Virginia makes assault and battery against a family or household member a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Some states require minimum jail time or counseling even for a misdemeanor conviction. Florida requires 10 days in county jail for a first domestic violence conviction that involved intentionally causing bodily harm. California requires a batterer's treatment program if probation is granted.^5,9

Florida's minimum is 10 days for a first offense, 15 days for a second and 20 days for a third or later, unless the court sentences the person to a state facility. If a child under 16 who is a family or household member was present, the minimums are 15, 20 and 30 days. California's battery law says that if probation is granted for battery on a spouse or similar person, the person must take part in a batterer's treatment program for at least one year.

A prior conviction can turn a domestic violence misdemeanor into a felony in many states.^2,3,4,6,8,10

In Illinois, domestic battery is a Class 4 felony after certain prior convictions, such as one or two prior domestic batteries or a violation of an order of protection. It is a Class 3 felony after three prior domestic batteries and a Class 2 felony after four or more. Ohio makes it a fourth-degree felony after one prior and a third-degree felony after two or more. Since July 1, 2026, Florida raises a first-degree misdemeanor domestic violence offense to a third-degree felony if the person has a prior domestic violence conviction. Georgia makes a second or later family violence battery a felony punishable by one to five years. Virginia makes a third offense within 20 years a Class 6 felony. Texas makes it a third-degree felony with a qualifying prior.

Serious injury can make domestic violence a felony, and in some states even a minor injury can. California's corporal injury law covers any injury that is a traumatic condition, whether minor or serious.^4,11,12,13

In California, willfully inflicting corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition on a spouse, cohabitant, parent of the person's child or dating partner is punishable by two, three or four years in state prison or up to one year in county jail. Illinois makes aggravated domestic battery, which includes causing great bodily harm or permanent disability or disfigurement, a Class 2 felony. Florida makes felony battery, causing great bodily harm, permanent disability or permanent disfigurement, a third-degree felony. Texas treats assault causing serious bodily injury, including to a spouse, as aggravated assault, a second-degree felony.

Strangulation or choking can be charged as a felony in each of the ten states we checked, though some require an injury or a family or dating relationship. It may be charged as its own offense or as a more serious form of domestic assault or battery.^{4,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21}

Florida makes domestic battery by strangulation a third-degree felony. Texas makes impeding a family or household member's breathing during an assault a third-degree felony. Illinois makes strangling someone during a domestic battery a Class 2 felony. Pennsylvania makes strangulation of a family or household member a second-degree felony and says injury is not an element. Ohio makes strangulation a felony in every grade. North Carolina (Class H) and Virginia (Class 6) make it a felony when it causes injury. New York makes it a class D felony when it causes stupor, loss of consciousness or other injury. California treats a strangulation injury to a partner as corporal injury, a felony. Georgia counts assault with an object likely to cause strangulation as aggravated assault.

Knowing the victim is pregnant raises the grade in some states. In Ohio, domestic violence against a family or household member the person knew was pregnant is at least a fifth-degree felony, with a mandatory prison term.^2,4,22

Texas makes bodily-injury assault on a person the defendant knows is pregnant a third-degree felony. Florida makes a battery on a victim the person knew or should have known was pregnant an aggravated battery, a second-degree felony.

Texas

Texas: Assault that causes bodily injury to a family or household member is a Class A misdemeanor. It is a third-degree felony if the person has a qualifying prior conviction or impedes the victim's breathing or blood circulation.⁴

It is a second-degree felony if the person has a qualifying prior conviction and also impedes breathing or blood circulation. Aggravated assault, which involves serious bodily injury or a deadly weapon, is a second-degree felony, and a first-degree felony when a deadly weapon is used and causes serious bodily injury to a family or household member. A threat of imminent bodily injury is a Class C misdemeanor.

Florida

Florida: A battery is a first-degree misdemeanor. A domestic violence offense that would be a first-degree misdemeanor becomes a third-degree felony if the person has a prior domestic violence conviction. Domestic battery by strangulation and felony battery are third-degree felonies.^1,7,9,10,13

The prior-conviction rule is in § 741.2801, which took effect July 1, 2026. It counts a plea of no contest or a withheld adjudication as a conviction, and it does not apply to felony battery under § 784.03(2). Florida defines domestic violence to include offenses such as assault, battery and stalking by one family or household member against another. A court must order at least 10 days in county jail for a first conviction involving intentionally caused bodily harm, unless it sentences the person to a state facility.

California

California: Battery on a spouse, cohabitant, parent of the person's child or dating partner is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in county jail. Corporal injury to those people resulting in a traumatic condition is a felony.^5,11,23

Under Penal Code § 273.5, the felony is punishable by two, three or four years in state prison or up to one year in county jail, and a fine of up to $6,000. A person convicted within seven years of an earlier conviction under § 273.5(a), § 243(d) or certain other sections faces a higher penalty. Section 17(b) allows some offenses that carry a choice between state prison and county jail to be treated as misdemeanors in the situations it lists.

New York

New York: Assault in the third degree and criminal obstruction of breathing are class A misdemeanors. Strangulation in the second degree is a class D felony, and strangulation in the first degree is a class C felony.^{16,17,18,24,25,26}

These are some of the offenses used in domestic cases. Strangulation in the second degree means criminal obstruction of breathing that causes stupor, loss of consciousness for any period of time, or another physical injury or impairment. Strangulation in the first degree means it causes serious physical injury. Assault in the second and first degree are class D and class B felonies.

Georgia

Georgia: A first family violence battery is a misdemeanor. A second or later conviction is a felony punishable by one to five years.^6,14,27

Simple assault between family or household members is punished as a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature. Aggravated assault between past or present spouses, parents of the same child, parents and children, and similar household relationships carries three to 20 years.

Illinois

Illinois: Domestic battery is a Class A misdemeanor. It becomes a Class 4 felony with certain prior convictions, and aggravated domestic battery is a Class 2 felony.^3,12

Domestic battery covers knowingly causing bodily harm to a family or household member, or making physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature. Aggravated domestic battery covers causing great bodily harm, permanent disability or disfigurement, or strangling the victim. A second or later aggravated domestic battery requires a prison term of at least three years.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania: Simple assault is a second-degree misdemeanor. Strangulation of a family or household member is a second-degree felony.¹⁵

Strangulation is a first-degree felony if the person is subject to an active protection from abuse order that covers the victim, uses an instrument of crime, or has a prior strangulation conviction of the kind that makes it a second-degree felony. Stalking, which is a first-degree misdemeanor on a first offense, is a third-degree felony if the person was previously convicted of a crime of violence involving the same victim or a family or household member.

Ohio

Ohio: Domestic violence is a first-degree misdemeanor. It is a fourth-degree felony after one prior conviction and a third-degree felony after two or more.^2,19

A threat of force that makes a family or household member believe imminent physical harm is coming is a fourth-degree misdemeanor on a first offense. Knowingly causing physical harm to a family or household member the person knew was pregnant is a fifth-degree felony. Ohio's separate strangulation law makes the offense a felony in every grade: second degree if it causes serious physical harm, third degree if it creates a substantial risk of serious harm, and fifth degree or higher in other cases.

Federal law makes it illegal for anyone convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence to possess, ship, transport or receive a gun or ammunition. This is 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9).^28,29

The statute covers shipping or transporting a firearm or ammunition in interstate or foreign commerce, possessing one in or affecting commerce, and receiving one that has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce. A knowing violation is punishable by a fine, up to 15 years in prison, or both under 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(8). The ban is federal, so it applies on top of any state rule.

A "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" is a federal, state, tribal or local misdemeanor that has the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon, as an element, and that was committed against a person in a covered relationship.³⁰

Covered relationships are a current or former spouse, parent or guardian of the victim; a person who shares a child with the victim; a person who is or was cohabiting with the victim as a spouse, parent or guardian; a person similarly situated to a spouse, parent or guardian; and a person who has a current or recent former dating relationship with the victim. This definition is in 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(33)(A).

A person is not treated as convicted for the federal gun ban unless they had a lawyer or knowingly gave up that right, and, if they were entitled to a jury trial, had a jury trial or knowingly gave up that right. A conviction that has been expunged, set aside or pardoned also does not count, unless the order says the person still may not have firearms.³⁰

Restored civil rights also end the ban, but only where the state's law takes away civil rights for the offense, and only if the restoration does not expressly bar firearms. These rules are in 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(33)(B). For a conviction involving a dating relationship, § 921(a)(33)(C) adds that a person with no more than one such conviction who is not otherwise prohibited regains eligibility five years after the later of the judgment or the end of any custodial or supervisory sentence, if they have not since been convicted of another such offense, a misdemeanor involving force or a threatened deadly weapon, or any other disqualifying offense. This five-year rule does not apply to spouses, co-parents or the other listed relationships.

How long an old domestic violence conviction counts depends on the state. In Virginia, the prior convictions that make a third offense a felony must all fall within 20 years. In California, a corporal injury conviction within seven years of certain earlier convictions carries a higher penalty.^8,11

Virginia counts prior convictions for assault and battery against a family or household member, malicious or unlawful wounding, aggravated malicious wounding, malicious bodily injury by a substance and strangulation, in any combination, if each happened on a different date within a period of 20 years. California's rule is in Penal Code § 273.5(f).