Greenwich Risk of Injury to Minors Lawyer

There actually is no child abuse charge in Connecticut. Any kind of alleged child abuse would fall under risk of injury to a minor or, potentially, an assault charge if there is some kind of corporal punishment alleged. Experienced defense attorneys often see the charge of risk of injury to a minor, sometimes accompanied by either disorderly conduct or a variation of an assault charge.

Contact a Greenwich risk of injury to minors lawyer to learn more.

What Are Common Causes of a Child Abuse Arrest?

Most Greenwich risk of injury to minors attorneys can argue that there are multiple scenarios that can lead to such a charge. Some serious examples include assault or sexual assault on a person under the age of 16.

More commonly, a risk of injury charge occurs in a domestic violence situation, when parents are fighting and a child is present in the room or nearby, close enough to the area of danger or close enough to hear a heated verbal argument or profanity. In those instances, police might tag Risk of Injury to a Minor onto the list of domestic violence charges.

Under what circumstances would a person be required to leave their home? If the charge is related to a domestic violence incident, then the person likely would be required to leave their home, at least temporarily. In other cases where there is suspected child abuse or an assault charge toward a child, the court might also require that the person leave their home or have no contact with a child in some cases.

Risk of Injury Arraignment

At the first court date, especially with domestic violence situations, a protective order would be issued. The court may also order conditions of release to the defendant that could include anger management at AIC, which is one of the nonprofits near the court. The court may also have the person undergo a substance abuse evaluation and drug screening if they think that alcohol and/or drugs may have been involved in any incident leading to the arrest.

In almost all situations where there is a parallel DCF investigation coupled with a criminal Court case, the criminal Court will order that the defendant comply with DCF. After that, the person will be assigned a new court date and the Greenwich attorney will eventually be able to get any of the police reports related to the allegations of risk of injury to a minor.

Common Court Orders and Penalties

There are three different levels of protective orders that can be imposed, and will automatically be imposed if there is any allegation of domestic violence. The highest and most burdensome condition is a full no-contact protective order, which means that the defendant cannot have any kind of contact with the protected person or people. They cannot have any contact even by social media, such as Facebook or Instagram, or even through a third party. The condition means no contact whatsoever and cannot be changed unless a judge orders it – even if the protected person reaches out and initiates contact with the Defendant.

What is a Full Residential Stay-Away Protective Order?

The second level is a full residential stay-away protective order, and in that case the defendant is allowed to have contact with the protected person, but they are not allowed to go to or live in the home where the protected person resides. If a parent is arrested related to abuse of the child, even though the parents and child live together they will not be able to go home under that protective order. The least imposing condition is called a partial or limited protective order, which prevents the defendant from abusing, threatening, assaulting or harassing the protected person. In that instance, they would be able to live in the same home. A dedicated Greenwich risk of injury to minors attorney could explain these differences in more detail during a private meeting.

Hire a Greenwich Risk of Injury to Minors Attorney

It is important to get in touch with a Greenwich risk of injury to minors lawyer before a person goes to their first court date. You want to have someone experienced at your side before even setting foot in the courthouse. At the first court date, the judge will be issuing both conditions of release and the protective order, and an experienced attorney can argue for the least burdensome conditions to be imposed so that everyone can move forward and try to get the case resolved as quickly as possible.