Across the state of Florida, with aggressive prosecution and limited survivor protections, victims of domestic abuse are routinely arrested, charged, and incarcerated for acts rooted in coercion, self-defense, or trauma responses. Instead of being protected, they are punished. Instead of being believed, they are criminalized.
When everyone in your community uses the same tired buzzwords, "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time," solely based on an arrest with the absence of evidence, how can you get help to get out of a domestic violence relationship without the potential of losing your life or the risk of being wrongfully arrested?
That’s one of the challenges victims and survivors face when they reach out to law enforcement for help when they are in fear for their lives. Here’s one story of many shared:
"I had to become my own hero when I could barely stand. For the first time in my life, I was forced to choose between staying in a cycle of violence where I might survive or leaving and risking being hunted down and killed.
I was scared, broken, and exhausted, but during a brief moment when he left the house, I risked everything and ran.
Months later, I learned why experts say leaving is the most dangerous time. One April afternoon, he appeared at my apartment. I called law enforcement, explained my history of abuse, and told them I was afraid. They said he wasn’t breaking the law by being there. When I thought he had left, I took my dog outside only for him to force his way in.
I locked myself in the bathroom and called 911. Officers spoke to him first. He told them I was unstable, that he lived there, and that I was the abuser. When they came to me, I was shaking and crying, but their decision had already been made. I was taken into custody, placed under the Baker Act for four days, and then jailed. I had no idea that surviving had become a crime.
A criminal defense attorney later proved my innocence, and the charge was dismissed. Still, under Florida law, the arrest remained on my record. Worse, the system had shown him exactly how to continue abusing me this time through the courts.
When I sought a restraining order, what should have been a short hearing turned into hours of traumatization. The courtroom became another weapon. I was ultimately granted protection, and for a moment, I felt safe.
That feeling lasted only hours.
Police soon returned to my door after my ex made a false and grotesque accusation. Despite the active restraining order, my dog was taken, and I was arrested again. The next day, my name and face were broadcast across the news. The public judged me based on lies, and I lost nearly everything I had left.
I wasn’t just surviving an abuser anymore. I was surviving the criminal justice system.
What nearly took my life was the system that was supposed to protect me. No one should have to fight their abuser and the criminal legal system at the same time. Survival is not a crime, and until our laws reflect that truth, countless victims will remain trapped between violence and incarceration."
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