Domestic violence cases are a special category of civil harassment. Civil harassment occurs when one person annoys, harasses, injures, or threatens another person. However, a civil harassment case does not have to meet the relationship test established for domestic violence. Domestic violence cases can often be more volatile than civil harassment cases. Because of the special relationship between the parties, a domestic violence case often results in greater harm caused by one person against the other.
Many states have different procedures for domestic violence and civil harassment.
In addition, the available remedies for a domestic violence case may differ from the remedies available in a civil harassment case. Whether the domestic violence is a crime depends upon the particular circumstances, as well as the laws of the state in which the act or acts occur. Often domestic violence is both a crime subject to criminal punishment and a civil wrong subject to restraint upon personal conduct and an award of a money damages. It is a frequent pattern in domestic violence cases for the victim to be abused, call the police, press charges, then reconcile with her abuser, and seek to have the charges dropped, only to have the entire pattern repeated. Because of this, in some local communities and states, domestic violence is now prosecuted as a crime by city and district attorneys, even without charges being brought by the abused person, and even without his or her assistance.