Domestic Violence

It is our commitment here at the Sheriff's Office to ensure that you, the citizens of St. Johns County, are provided with the best services possible. If you have contacted the SJSO regarding Domestic Violence, we would like to ask for a few moments of your time. Please click here regarding our Domestic Violence survey.

Have you been a victim of Domestic Violence? Not sure what to do or how to handle you next move? Please email: dhazel@sjso.org You may also Call (904) 824-8304 and ask for the Victim Advocate.

Domestic violence is the single largest cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the United States, more than muggings, car accidents, and rapes combined. Each year between 2 million and 4 million women are battered, and 2,000 of these battered women will die of their injuries. Violence against men by women is also a problem.

Click the links below to download domestic violence forms:

(After printing and filling out the forms, they must be taken to the Clerk of the Court’s Office.)

There is no typical victim.

Domestic violence occurs among all ages, races, and socioeconomic classes. It occurs in families of all educational backgrounds. Individuals may be living together or separated, divorced or prohibited from contact by temporary or permanent restraining orders.

Only about half of domestic violence incidents are reported.

The most common reasons for not reporting domestic violence to police are that victims view the incident as a personal or private matter, they fear retaliation from their abuser, and they do not believe that law enforcement will do anything about the incident. Even with this dramatic under-reporting, domestic violence calls constitute approximately half of all violent crime calls.

How can you tell if you are being abused?

The most difficult step for you to take is to actually admit that you are being abused by your partner. Yet, admission is the first step necessary in finding your way out of an abusive relationship. How can you tell if you are being abused? Ask yourself these questions:

  • Does your partner prevent you from seeing your family or friends?

  • Does your partner constantly criticize you and your abilities?

  • Does your partner intimidate or threaten you?

  • Does your partner hit, punch, slap, or kick you?

  • If you have a gun in your home, has your partner ever threatened to use it?

  • Has your partner ever prevented you from leaving the house, getting a job, or continuing your education?

  • Has your partner ever destroyed things that you cared about?

  • Has your partner ever forced you to have sex or forced you to engage in sex that makes you feel uncomfortable?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you should seek professional help because you may be in an abusive relationship. Millions of women are struggling with similar difficulties. Perhaps you and your partner can work through these problems. But if you feel you are in danger, you owe it to yourself to seek help and support.

For help, victims of domestic violence should talk to their physicians or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE. You may also call the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office (904) 824-8304 and ask to speak to the Victim Advocate’s Domestic Violence Specialist.

Another Woman
Today another woman died
and not on a foreign field
and not with a rifle strapped to her back,
and not with a large defense of tanks
rumbling and rolling behind her.

She died without CNN covering her war.
She died without talk of intelligent bombs
and strategic targets
The target was simply her face, her back 
her pregnant belly.

The target was her precious flesh 
that was once composed like music
in her mother’s body and sung 
in the anthem of birth.

The target was this life 
that had lived its own dear wildness,
had been loved and not loved,
had danced and not danced.

A life like yours or mine 
that had stumbled up 
from a beginning
and had learned to walk 
and had learned to read.
and had learned to sing.

Another woman died today.
not far from where you live;
Just there, next door where the tall light
falls across the pavement.
Just there, a few steps away
where you’ve often heard shouting,
Another woman died today.

She was the same girl
her mother used to kiss;
the same child you dreamed 
beside in school.
The same baby her parents 
walked in the night with 
and listened and listened and listened
For her cries even while they slept. 

And someone has confused his rage 
with this woman’s only life.
Carol Geneya Kapla

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