Has Domestic Violence Spiked During COVID-19?

Yes, national research confirms that domestic violence incidents rose in many parts of the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the months following stay-at-home orders in 2020. Stay-at-home orders and school closures kept families confined together for extended periods, and that confinement, combined with job loss, isolation, and rising stress, created conditions that researchers have since linked to higher rates of reported abuse. For survivors, more time trapped at home with an abusive partner often meant more suffering and fewer opportunities to seek help, a pattern that researchers continue to study today.

If you have been accused of domestic violence during this period, or at any time since, you need an attorney who can help you understand and protect your rights. Not every heated argument that gets labeled “domestic violence” involves abuse, and feelings of frustration, anger, or embarrassment are sometimes taken out of context and reported as something more serious. Our firm’s domestic violence defense practice has spent decades helping clients throughout Palm Beach County understand what an accusation means for their case and how to protect their rights going forward.

Why Did Domestic Violence Increase During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Domestic violence was already a widespread problem before the pandemic. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one in three women and more than one in six men experience contact sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lives, and among women specifically, nearly one in four experience physical violence from a partner. These numbers were already significant before COVID-19 restrictions reshaped how families spent their time together.

The pandemic did not create domestic violence, but public health researchers generally agree that it created conditions that made existing abuse worse and, in many regions, more frequent. Stay-at-home orders, remote work, and virtual schooling kept people confined to their homes for extended stretches, often alongside the same partner or family member responsible for the abuse. The correlation is straightforward: orders designed to slow the spread of the virus also left many survivors with fewer chances to leave the house, see friends or coworkers, or reach out for help. Other factors researchers have tied to the increase include higher levels of isolation, financial stress from job loss or furlough, and increased alcohol use during lockdowns.

The Broader Cost of Domestic Violence

Domestic violence carries consequences that extend well beyond a single incident, which is part of why reporting increases during periods of stress draw so much attention from researchers and policymakers. The CDC reports that intimate partner violence can result in serious injury and, in some cases, death, and that survivors face a higher risk of chronic health problems and mental health conditions such as depression and post-traumatic stress. The agency also estimates that the lifetime economic cost of intimate partner violence, including medical care, lost productivity, and criminal justice costs, runs into the trillions of dollars nationwide. Understanding the scale of the underlying problem helps explain why any reported increase, whether during a pandemic or otherwise, is treated as a serious public safety issue.

What Do National Studies Show About Domestic Violence and COVID-19?

Since 2020, researchers have published a substantial body of work examining how much domestic violence increased during the pandemic and why. A systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Journal of Criminal Justice and archived through the National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine examined eighteen separate empirical studies and found that most pointed to an increase in domestic violence following stay-at-home and lockdown orders, with the effect strongest in studies focused on the United States. Separately, the Council on Criminal Justice’s National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice found that domestic violence incidents across the country increased by roughly 8 percent following the imposition of pandemic stay-at-home orders in 2020, based on an analysis of police data from cities nationwide.

These national findings echoed what individual police departments were reporting in real time. An early analysis published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine found that domestic violence reports climbed in multiple United States cities within weeks of local stay-at-home orders taking effect, including an 18 percent increase in family violence calls in San Antonio and a 27 percent increase in domestic violence calls in Jefferson County, Alabama, during March 2020 compared to March 2019. Researchers tracking the same trend abroad found comparable increases in several other countries as governments issued their own lockdown orders in early 2020.

Why Official Data May Understate the Real Increase

Several researchers and victim advocates have cautioned that official statistics likely understate how much domestic violence actually increased during lockdowns. When a victim is confined to the same home as an abuser around the clock, calling a hotline, contacting police, or even sending a private message for help becomes far more difficult and, in some cases, dangerous. Advocacy organizations in Florida reported that hotline call volume did not rise in proportion to the increase in police-reported cases during the pandemic, which they attributed to victims having less privacy and less access to a phone. That gap between reported cases and the true scope of abuse is one reason many researchers describe the pandemic’s effect on domestic violence as likely larger than the official numbers suggest.

Were Domestic Violence Reports Rising in Florida During the Pandemic?

Global trends emerged early in the pandemic. Reports from police near the epicenter of the outbreak in China’s Hubei province indicated that domestic violence tripled in February 2020 compared to February 2019. In the United States, city police departments began reporting similar increases within weeks of their own stay-at-home orders. After Oregon issued stay-at-home orders on March 23, 2020, the Portland Police Bureau recorded a 22 percent increase in domestic violence arrests compared to the weeks before the order took effect.

Florida saw its own increase. Local news outlets reported a 79 percent increase in domestic violence cases across several Treasure Coast counties between March and April 2020, along with an 18 percent increase in Palm Beach County over that same window. The Florida Times-Union reported that domestic violence deaths in the Jacksonville area rose during 2020 compared to the year before. Arrests overall in Palm Beach County dropped sharply during the lockdown, which makes the localized rise in domestic violence reports even more notable against that backdrop.

What Local Officials Said About the Increase

Prosecutors covering the Treasure Coast region offered an important piece of context alongside the statistics: the pandemic itself was not necessarily creating new abusers, but instead exposing conduct that may have already been occurring behind closed doors, and in many instances forcing existing conflicts into public view for the first time. That distinction matters for anyone facing an accusation today. A rise in reported cases does not automatically mean every report reflects an escalation in actual violence, and disputes that might otherwise have stayed private sometimes end in an arrest once law enforcement becomes involved.

What Are the Risk Factors Behind Rising Domestic Violence Cases?

Researchers who have studied the pandemic’s effect on domestic violence point to several overlapping risk factors, and many of these remain relevant any time a household experiences prolonged stress or isolation, pandemic or not.

• Isolation. Less contact with friends, coworkers, and extended family can remove the outside perspective that often helps someone recognize or report abuse.
• Financial stress. Job loss, reduced hours, and economic uncertainty raise household tension and are strongly linked to increased conflict.
• Increased alcohol use. Several studies link higher alcohol consumption during high-stress periods to escalating conflict between partners.
• Limited access to support services. Shelters, courts, and advocacy groups faced their own pandemic disruptions, making it harder for survivors to reach help quickly.

None of these factors excuses abuse, but understanding them helps explain why reports climbed so quickly once stay-at-home orders took effect, and why some of the same pressures can resurface during any period of prolonged isolation or financial hardship, well beyond the pandemic itself.

How Does Florida Law Define Domestic Violence?

Florida law defines domestic violence broadly. Under Florida Statute Section 741.28, domestic violence includes assault, aggravated assault, battery, aggravated battery, sexual assault, sexual battery, stalking, aggravated stalking, kidnapping, false imprisonment, or any criminal offense resulting in physical injury or death, when it occurs between family or household members. Florida defines a “family or household member” to include spouses, former spouses, people related by blood or marriage, people who currently live together or have lived together in the past as a family, and people who share a child in common regardless of whether they were ever married.

In practice, this means that an offense like domestic violence battery in Florida is not a separate crime from ordinary battery. Instead, it is the same underlying offense with a domestic violence designation attached because of the relationship between the people involved. That designation carries its own consequences, including a mandatory minimum jail sentence in some circumstances, a no-contact condition, and required completion of a batterer’s intervention program upon conviction. Once you are arrested, the case typically moves quickly, often with a first appearance before a judge within 24 hours, so having an attorney involved early can make a meaningful difference.

Injunctions and Protective Orders Are Separate From Criminal Charges

It is also worth understanding that a criminal domestic violence charge is separate from a civil domestic violence injunction, sometimes called a restraining order, though the two often overlap. A judge can enter an injunction based on a petition from the alleged victim, independent of whether the state attorney’s office ever files criminal charges, and an injunction can affect your life and record in ways that are separate from a criminal conviction, including restrictions on firearm possession and where you can live or work. Because these two processes move on different tracks and different timelines, it is important to have an attorney review both if you are facing them at the same time.

What Should You Do if You Are Accused of Domestic Violence in West Palm Beach?

Domestic violence accusations are treated seriously in Florida, but that does not mean every accusation is accurate or leads to a conviction. If you have been charged with harassment, assault, battery, or another offense connected to domestic violence, there are specific steps that can help protect you while your case moves forward.

Immediate Steps to Protect Your Rights

If a protective order hearing has been scheduled, or a no-contact order has already been entered, follow it exactly, even if you believe it is unfair or based on inaccurate information. Violating a protective order, even unintentionally, can result in new criminal charges on top of the original accusation. You should also avoid any contact with the accuser, whether directly or through friends, family, or social media, until your attorney advises you it is safe to do so.

Be careful about what you say and post publicly while your case is pending. Posting about your case on social media can create evidence that prosecutors use against you later, even when the posts seem unrelated to the charge. The same caution applies to conversations with mutual friends or family members who may later be asked to testify.

Finally, speak with a criminal defense attorney before you answer questions from law enforcement. You have the right to remain silent, and exercising that right is not an admission of guilt. An attorney who regularly handles domestic violence cases can review the specific allegations against you, identify inconsistencies or missing context, and help you understand what to expect at each stage of the case.

What Happens After a Domestic Violence Arrest in Florida

After an arrest, most people facing a domestic violence charge in Florida are held until a first appearance before a judge, typically within 24 hours, where bond conditions and any no-contact order are set. Standard conditions in a domestic violence case often include surrendering any firearms, staying away from the accuser’s home and workplace, and refraining from contact of any kind, and violating any of these conditions can result in the bond being revoked. From there, the case generally proceeds through an arraignment, a discovery period in which both sides exchange evidence, and either a negotiated resolution, participation in a pretrial diversion program for eligible first-time offenders, or a trial. Because a domestic violence case moves through several stages, each with its own deadlines and decision points, having an attorney involved from the earliest possible moment gives you the most opportunity to influence how the case unfolds.

How Can a West Palm Beach Domestic Violence Defense Attorney Help?

Facing a domestic violence charge can affect your job, your housing, your firearm rights, and your relationship with your children, sometimes before the case is ever resolved. An attorney’s role is to make sure the accusation is tested rather than simply accepted. That can include investigating the underlying incident, identifying witnesses who were not initially interviewed, reviewing 911 calls and body camera footage, and raising any defenses available under Florida law, such as self-defense or a lack of evidence connecting you to the alleged offense.

An attorney can also negotiate with the state attorney’s office on your behalf, which sometimes results in reduced charges or a diversion program depending on the facts of the case and your history, and can take the matter to trial if that is the right path forward. If a case ends in a favorable result, an attorney can also advise you on whether the record may later be eligible for sealing or expungement, which can matter a great deal for future employment and housing applications. Our firm has represented clients facing domestic violence charges throughout Palm Beach County for more than three decades, and we approach every case with the same goal: giving you a fair opportunity to tell your side of the story within the Florida criminal justice system.

Contact an Experienced West Palm Beach Domestic Violence Defense Attorney

For legal assistance, look no further than The Law Office of Gabriel & Gabriel. Attorney Brian Gabriel has served the West Palm Beach community for more than 30 years, and the majority of his practice has been devoted to criminal defense, including domestic violence cases. He takes a client-centered approach designed to make an already difficult process as manageable as possible, and he works to build a detailed, individualized defense rather than a one-size-fits-all response to an accusation.

If you or someone you love is facing a domestic violence charge in West Palm Beach or the surrounding area, do not wait to get legal advice. Early involvement from an attorney can help protect your rights from the moment charges are filed and can make a meaningful difference in how your case unfolds and what options remain available to you. Reach out today to complete a contact form and schedule a consultation with our team.

Frequently Asked Questions About Domestic Violence and COVID-19