What is criminal contempt?

 Criminal Contempt in the District of Columbia

Charged with criminal contempt in the District of Columbia.    Criminal contempt usually occurs when you’ve alleged to have violated a court order or you did something that the court, told you not to do and you did it anyway. You can be held in criminal contempt when you violate a condition of release. For example, you were ordered on release in a case and you violated a condition of release such as going back to the location which the court ordered you to stay away from.  Sometimes criminal contempt is associated with domestic violence cases. 

Civil Contempt in the District of Columbia

Civil contempt occurs when you are ordered to do something and you fail to do it. For example pay your child support. Usually with civil contempt can just remedy the problem and it goes away. Some refer to this as having the keys to the jail cell.

Examples of Criminal Contempt in the District of Columbia

You can be held in criminal contempt when you violate a condition of release. For example, you were ordered on release, they let you out on release and you violated a condition of release such as go back to the location which the court ordered you to stay away from.

We find most criminal contempt cases occur and they usually occur around civil protection orders. In other words a civil protection order’s issued against a person and thereafter an accusation arises that you made contact yourself or through a third party, you made contact with the person who took out the civil protection order. It could be as simple as a text message or a Facebook post and thereafter that’s when the trouble arises.

If you’ve been charged with criminal contempt in the District of Columbia, feel free to call my office. We can help you through this.