Pennsylvania Domestic Violence Laws: PFA Orders and Penalties

Pennsylvania’s domestic violence laws let qualifying victims get a no-cost civil protection order, allow police to arrest an abuser without a warrant, raise the grade of certain crimes when the victim is a family or household member, and strip firearm rights — often permanently — after a PFA order or a qualifying conviction. They reach far beyond married couples, and the criminal penalties can run from a small fine to twenty years in prison depending on the conduct and the relationship.

Who the Laws Cover

Pennsylvania defines “family or household members” broadly. The category includes spouses and former spouses, people currently or formerly living together as intimate partners, parents and children, other relatives by blood or marriage, current or former sexual partners, and people who share biological parenthood.¹ You don’t have to be married, and you don’t have to be currently in the relationship.

“Abuse” under the Protection from Abuse Act reaches beyond hitting. It covers causing or attempting to cause bodily injury, placing someone in reasonable fear of serious physical harm, false imprisonment, physical or sexual abuse of children, and a pattern of conduct such as following someone that creates a reasonable fear of injury.¹

Protection From Abuse Orders

A Protection From Abuse (PFA) order is a civil court order restricting the abuser’s contact with the victim. Filing costs nothing. Pennsylvania law prohibits courts from charging any fees for filing, serving, modifying, or withdrawing a PFA petition, and courts must provide simplified forms and clerical assistance in English and Spanish to people filing without an attorney.²

Emergency, Temporary, and Final Orders

An emergency PFA is available from a magisterial district judge when the regular courts are closed and lasts until the next business day. A temporary PFA is issued when a judge finds immediate and present danger of abuse and stays in effect until the full hearing, which must happen within ten business days of filing.³ At that hearing, the victim must prove abuse by a preponderance of the evidence: more likely than not. A final PFA can last up to three years.

What a PFA Can Order

A PFA can order the abuser to stop all contact with the victim and any minor children, evict the abuser from a shared home even if both names are on the lease, award the victim temporary custody, and prohibit the abuser from coming near the victim’s workplace or school. The court can also order the abuser to pay medical expenses, relocation costs, lost earnings, and property damage caused by the abuse.⁴

Every final PFA requires the defendant to give up firearms, other weapons, and ammunition.⁴ Temporary orders can carry the same restriction when the abuse involved a weapon or the court finds ongoing danger.

Violating a PFA

Violating a PFA is indirect criminal contempt, punishable by a fine of $300 to $1,000 and up to six months in jail or six months of supervised probation.⁵ At the victim’s request, the court must also extend the PFA after a contempt conviction. There is no right to a jury trial for PFA contempt, though the defendant is entitled to an attorney.

Arrest Without a Warrant

Pennsylvania officers can make a warrantless arrest in a domestic violence case whenever they have probable cause to believe the accused committed certain offenses against a family or household member, even if the officer didn’t witness the incident. The covered offenses include simple assault, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, terroristic threats, stalking, strangulation, and involuntary manslaughter. The officer must first observe recent physical injury or other corroborating evidence.⁶

If the victim later asks to drop the charges, that doesn’t end the case. The district attorney decides whether to proceed and can prosecute using 911 recordings, medical records, and witness statements even without the victim’s cooperation. Violating pretrial conditions such as a no-contact order can lead to immediate re-arrest.

Criminal Charges and Penalties

Pennsylvania has no single “domestic violence” crime. Conduct is charged under the ordinary criminal statutes, but the relationship between the parties sometimes raises the offense grade.

Simple Assault

Simple assault covers intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causing bodily injury, negligently causing injury with a deadly weapon, or using physical threats to put someone in fear of serious harm.⁶ It’s normally a second-degree misdemeanor carrying up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine.⁷ When an adult assaults a child under 12, the grade rises to a first-degree misdemeanor with up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Aggravated Assault

Aggravated assault is always a felony. Attempting to cause or actually causing serious bodily injury under circumstances showing extreme indifference to human life is a first-degree felony carrying up to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.⁸⁹ Intentionally or knowingly causing bodily injury with a deadly weapon is a second-degree felony with up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

Strangulation

Strangulation is normally a second-degree misdemeanor. When the victim is a family or household member, it becomes a second-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.¹⁰⁹ It climbs to a first-degree felony (up to 20 years) if the defendant was subject to an active PFA covering the victim, used an instrument of crime, or had a prior second-degree felony strangulation conviction.

Stalking

A first stalking offense is a first-degree misdemeanor with up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.¹¹ A second offense, or a first offense where the defendant has a prior conviction for a violent crime against the same victim, is a third-degree felony with up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.⁹

Terroristic Threats

Terroristic threats are typically a first-degree misdemeanor (up to five years, $10,000 fine). If the threat causes an evacuation or disrupts normal operations at a place of assembly or public transportation, the charge becomes a third-degree felony with up to seven years and a $15,000 fine.⁶

Firearm Restrictions

Losing gun rights is one of the most immediate consequences of a Pennsylvania domestic violence case, and state and federal rules stack on top of each other.

Anyone subject to a final PFA must turn over all firearms, other weapons, ammunition, and any firearm license to the county sheriff, an appropriate law enforcement agency, or a licensed firearms dealer within 24 hours.¹² Temporary PFAs can order the same when the abuse involved a weapon or the court finds immediate danger.³ Failing to surrender as ordered is itself a second-degree misdemeanor.¹³

A conviction for a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence triggers a separate 24-hour relinquishment requirement under state law.¹² Federal law goes further: a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence conviction permanently prohibits possessing, shipping, or receiving any firearm or ammunition.¹⁴ Felony convictions also carry permanent firearm disqualification under state and federal law. The federal ban does not expire unless the conviction is expunged or pardoned.

Effect on Child Custody

Domestic violence history weighs heavily in Pennsylvania custody decisions. When a parent, or someone in that parent’s household, has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to certain offenses, the court must evaluate whether that person poses a threat to the child before awarding any form of custody. A conviction alone doesn’t automatically bar custody. The court looks at the severity of the offense, how recently it occurred, and evidence of rehabilitation. A parent convicted of murdering the other parent loses custody rights entirely unless the child is old enough to consent.¹⁵ In practice, an abuse history often results in supervised visitation, restricted overnights, or conditions such as mandatory counseling.

Address Confidentiality and Immigration Relief

Victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, or child abduction can enroll in Pennsylvania’s Address Confidentiality Program through the Office of Victim Advocate. The program provides a substitute mailing address that can be used on court records, driver’s licenses, vehicle registrations, voter registrations, school records, utility bills, and employment records.¹⁶ Enrollment requires working with a local victim service agency on a safety plan, and participants must renew every three years.

Immigrant victims have separate federal options. The U-visa is available to victims of qualifying crimes, including domestic violence, who suffered substantial physical or mental harm and cooperate with law enforcement; applicants need a certification from police, prosecutors, or a judge, and the visa provides work authorization and status for up to four years, with a green card option after three years of continuous presence. The Violence Against Women Act lets certain abused spouses and children of U.S. citizens or permanent residents self-petition for status without the abuser’s knowledge or cooperation, and it provides housing protections in federally subsidized housing, including emergency transfers and protection against eviction based solely on being a victim.

Clearing a Record

Whether a Pennsylvania domestic violence record can be cleared depends on how the case ended. If charges were dismissed or withdrawn, the arrest record qualifies for expungement by court order. If the case resolved through Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD), the defendant can petition for expungement after completing all court-ordered requirements; ARD expungement is not available for certain sexual offenses involving minors.¹⁷

Summary offense convictions can be expunged if the person has been free from arrest or prosecution for five years afterward.¹⁷ Misdemeanor and felony domestic violence convictions generally cannot be expunged through the courts and require a pardon from the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons. Even a successful state expungement does not automatically restore federal firearm rights; the federal prohibition under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9) may still apply depending on how the underlying case was resolved.¹⁴

1
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 23 – Section 6102 – Definitions
2
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 23 Chapter 61 – Protection From Abuse
3
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 23 – Section 6107 – Hearings
4
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 23 – Section 6108 – Relief
5
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 23 – Section 6114 – Contempt for Violation of Order or Agreement
6
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 18 Chapter 27 – Assault
7
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 18 – Section 1101 – Fines
8
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 18 – Section 2702 – Aggravated Assault
9
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 18 – Section 1103 – Sentence of Imprisonment for Felony
10
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 18 – Section 2718 – Strangulation
11
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 18 – Section 2709.1 – Stalking
12
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Relinquish Firearms in Accordance With the Pennsylvania Protection From Abuse Act or Conviction of a Misdemeanor Crime of Domestic Violence
13
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 18 Chapter 61 – Firearms and Other Dangerous Articles
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
15
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 23 – Section 5329 – Consideration of Criminal Conviction
16
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Address Confidentiality Program
17
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 18 – Section 9122 – Expungement