Glossary topic

Domestic violence vocabulary in Spanish and English for court interpreters

Domestic violence cases mix two very different kinds of language. The paperwork side (petitioner, respondent, temporary restraining order, final restraining order, no-contact) is formal and fixed. The testimony side is not: a petitioner describes being grabbed, shoved, threatened, held down, in plain words and often in tears. The interpreter has to keep both registers intact.

Renditions below come from the Washington, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Alabama glossaries, with domestic violence itself and the TRO/FRO pair taken from the New Jersey glossary and strangulation from CourtFluent's vetted medical set. Shelter is not in any official list we checked and is discussed in the FAQ.

The moment

A petition for a protective order. The petitioner testifies in Spanish and you interpret consecutively for the court: "El sábado llegó tomado. Me agarró del brazo y me empujó contra la pared. Me dijo que si llamaba a la policía me iba a quitar a los niños. Cuando traté de salir me apretó el cuello y no podía respirar." The judge asks whether there have been prior incidents, whether the respondent has firearms in the home, and whether the children were present. Then the respondent's attorney cross-examines, and the register shifts to dates, police report numbers and whether she sought medical treatment for the bruises.

English	Spanish	Sources
Domestic violence	violencia doméstica Not a standalone entry in the WA, CT, WI or AL lists; taken from the New Jersey glossary.	NJ
Restraining order	orden de restricción / orden inhibitoria / interdicto AL, WI and WA: orden de restricción. CT: orden inhibitoria, interdicto. New Jersey adds orden de alejamiento.	ALWIWACTNJ
Temporary restraining order (TRO)	orden de restricción temporal WA. New Jersey: Orden Temporal de Restricción.	WANJ
Final restraining order (FRO)	orden final de restricción	NJ
Protection order	orden de protección	WA
Issue a protective order	dictar una orden de protección	CT
Injunction	mandamiento judicial WA. Florida calls its domestic violence order an injunction for protection; in Spanish the court usage is still orden de protección.	WA
No-contact order	orden que prohíbe contacto / orden de alejamiento	WA
Court order	orden judicial	WA
Petitioner	solicitante / peticionario / demandante CT and WA agree on all three; CT adds suplicante.	CTWA
Respondent	demandado CT and WA agree.	CTWA
Alleged victim	supuesta víctima / presunta víctima	CT
Victim advocate	defensor de las víctimas	CT
Abuser	abusador / agresor	WA
Spouse	cónyuge / esposo	CT
Assault (noun)	agresión WA: agresión, not asalto. CT: agresión física, acometimiento.	WACT
Assault (verb)	agredir	WA
Battery	lesiones	WA
Assault and battery	agresión con lesiones / amenazas y agresión violenta WA: agresión con lesiones. AL and WI: amenazas y agresión violenta. CT: maltrato de obra y de palabra, vías de hecho.	WAALWICT
Aggravated	con agravante / agravado WA: con agravante. CT: agravado, con agravantes.	WACT
Aggravated assault	agresión o violencia personal agravada	CT
Aggravated battery	violencia física agravada	CT
Assault with a deadly weapon	agresión con arma mortífera / agresión con arma letal	WA
Strangulation	estrangulamiento / estrangulación	CF
Stalking	acecho CT and WA agree; CT also lists acoso. New Jersey: acecho.	CTWANJ
Harassment	acoso / hostigamiento WA and New Jersey agree.	WANJ
Harass	acosar / hostigar	WA
Threat	amenaza	WA
Threaten	amenazar	WA
Threatening	amenaza / intimidación	CT
Push and shove	empujar / empujar y dar empellones	CT
Punch	dar un puñetazo	WA
Bruise	moretón / cardenal / magulladura WA and CT agree on all three; CT adds moradura, contusión.	WACT
Injury	lesión CT and WA agree; CT adds herida, daño.	CTWA
Bodily injury	lesiones corporales / daño personal o corporal AL and WI: lesiones corporales. CT: daño personal o corporal.	ALWICT
Injure	lastimar / lesionar	WA
Sustain an injury	sufrir una lesión / lesionarse / lastimarse	CT
Life-threatening injury	lesión que pone en peligro la vida / lesión potencialmente mortal	CF
Child abuse	maltrato de menores / abuso de niños o de menores	WA
Endanger the welfare of a child	poner en peligro el bienestar de un menor	ALWI
Custody (of children)	custodia / patria potestad / tutela AL: custodia. WA and CT: patria potestad, tutela.	ALWACT
Child support	manutención de menores AL, CT, WA and WI agree.	ALCTWAWI
Kidnapping	secuestro / rapto	ALWI
False imprisonment	privación ilegal de libertad	ALWI
Criminal trespass	entrada o permanencia ilícita en un inmueble ajeno CT. WA renders trespassing as entrar sin autorización en propiedad ajena.	CTWA
Malicious mischief	daño intencional / daño malicioso WA. CT renders criminal mischief as daños en propiedad ajena.	WACT
Contempt of court	desacato WA and CT agree. New Jersey: desacato de una orden de violencia doméstica for contempt of a DV order.	WACTNJ
Violate	quebrantar / infringir / contravenir	WA

How raters score these

Domestic violence testimony is scored heavily on register and on the physical verbs. A rater expects "me agarró del brazo y me empujó contra la pared" to come back as "he grabbed my arm and shoved me against the wall," with the force of the verbs intact; softening shoved to pushed or dropping against the wall costs units. Body parts, the sequence of events, and any quoted threat ("he said he would take the kids") are separate units, and the quoted threat must stay in first person. On the formal side, the pairs petitioner/respondent and TRO/FRO are terminology units, agresión must not become asalto, and strangulation is estrangulamiento, not ahorcamiento. Interpret the emotion in the voice but never add words the witness did not say.

Common questions

Restraining order, protective order or injunction: which Spanish term do I use?

Orden de restricción is shared by Alabama, Wisconsin and Washington for restraining order, and orden de protección (Washington) for protection order. Connecticut uses orden inhibitoria or interdicto. Florida's injunction for protection is still orden de protección in courtroom Spanish; Washington's mandamiento judicial for injunction refers to the general civil remedy.

How do I say petitioner and respondent?

Connecticut and Washington agree: petitioner is solicitante, peticionario or demandante, and respondent is demandado. In a criminal DV case the accused is acusado, not demandado; the civil pair applies to the protective order petition.

Is shelter in the official glossaries?

Not in the Washington, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Alabama, New Jersey or California glossaries checked for this page, so no rendition is listed. Refugio and albergue are both understood across Latin America; interpret the meaning and keep the name of the organization if one is given.

Why does the DEA slang entry for grabbed not apply here?

In the DEA street-slang module, grabbed means kidnapped (lo levantaron). In domestic violence testimony grabbed is the plain verb agarrar or sujetar. Context decides; raters score the meaning in the passage, not the dictionary entry.

Keep going

Sources