Domestic violence is a complicated problem.
The Iowa Legislature has adopted a variety of legal mechanisms that attempt to protect victims, to provide victims with relief from domestic abuse, and to hold perpetrators of domestic abuse accountable for their crimes. The Domestic Abuse Act is Chapter 236 of the Code of 1owa. The Act first went into effect in 1980 and has been changed since then to provide more protection for victims of domestic violence. The Act applies to persons under eighteen years of age, if they meet any of the definitions above. A person does not have to be married to the abuser to seek relief under the Domestic Abuse Act.