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Risk and lethality factors

The 13 red flags

The factors most commonly present when the risk of serious harm or death exists, and what a New York court can order in response to each one.

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These come from evidence-based tools, principally the Danger Assessment and the DVSI-R, and from the Domestic Violence Risk Factor Guide that New York civil attorneys are trained to use.

This is not a test and there is no score

The risk factor guide these come from says plainly that it is not meant to be filled out, scored in any way, or placed in any court file. So this page does not score you either. The list is not exhaustive, the level of risk changes over time, and one factor can matter more than five others.

Showing all 13 factors.

01 StrangulationHands on the neck, even once

What it looks like: Hands, an arm, a forearm or an object applied to the neck.
Pressure that made it hard to breathe, even briefly.
A rash or petechiae on the neck, red marks, injuries to the head or behind the ears.
Loss of consciousness, loss of bladder or bowel control, a hoarse voice, memory gaps afterward.
A voice that sounded different for days, or a sore throat with no illness behind it.
Why it is on the list: Non-fatal strangulation is one of the strongest single predictors of a later homicide by the same partner. The injuries are frequently internal and invisible, which is exactly why it is missed and why it is under-reported. A photograph of an unmarked neck proves nothing either way.
What a New York court can do: New York Penal Law Article 121 covers strangulation and criminal obstruction of breathing. It is a crime in its own right, separate from assault, and it does not require a visible injury.
A strangulation history is squarely relevant to the terms and duration of an order of protection.
The Family Justice Center Forensic Medical Unit in Buffalo conducts strangulation and traumatic brain injury assessments with photo-documentation.
What helps your attorney: Say the word. Many survivors describe it as choking, and many describe it as an argument that got physical. Describe what happened to your breathing, your vision, your voice and your memory, not just whether there was a mark.

02 Access to firearmsOwnership, access, or a threat involving a weapon

What it looks like: Guns in the home, in a vehicle, at a relative's house, or at work.
A gun safe, and who knows the combination.
Any use or display of a weapon during an argument, including cleaning one while talking to you.
Words as well as actions: a reference to what a gun could do counts.
Why it is on the list: An abuser's access to a firearm dramatically increases the risk that a domestic violence victim will be killed. Campbell's multisite case control study of intimate partner femicide found an adjusted odds ratio of roughly 5.4 for the perpetrator's access to a firearm, which is where the commonly quoted 500 percent figure comes from. The exact multiplier shifts with the model, and with whether you are measuring a gun in the house or the abuser's access to one. Either way this is the factor that turns an assault case into a homicide case.
What a New York court can do: Domestic Relations Law section 240(3)(h) and Family Court Act sections 842-a and 846-a authorize orders to surrender firearms and to suspend or revoke a firearms license. A temporary order issued under Family Court Act section 828 is what triggers section 842-a, and section 828(1)(a) requires the court to consider access to weapons when it issues that temporary order.
Federal law separately restricts firearm possession for people subject to certain qualifying protective orders and for those convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, 18 U.S.C. section 922(g)(8) and (g)(9).
New York also has an Extreme Risk Protection Order, sometimes called the red flag law, which a family or household member can petition for. It is a separate proceeding from an order of protection and it can reach a person who has not been charged with anything.
What helps your attorney: Be specific and be complete. Types, quantities, locations, and who else can get to them. Courts write firearm surrender provisions from this information, and a vague answer produces a vague order.

03 Threats to killYou, the children, others, or themselves

What it looks like: Direct threats, and the sideways kind: if you leave, or you know what will happen.
Threats made by text, by voicemail, through a third person or on social media.
Threats against your family, your friends or your co-workers.
Threats of suicide, particularly when timed to a separation.
Talk about a murder-suicide, or about nobody else having you.
Why it is on the list: A threat to kill is not venting, and threatened suicide by an abusive partner is a lethality factor rather than a separate and unrelated mental health event. Threats of this kind also reach past the person they are aimed at, which is why an order can name children, relatives and co-workers as protected parties.
What a New York court can do: Menacing, Penal Law sections 120.13, 120.14 and 120.15.
Harassment and aggravated harassment, Penal Law sections 240.25, 240.26, 240.30 and 240.31.
Electronic threats are preserved evidence. Do not delete them.
What helps your attorney: Quote the exact words if you can. Courts respond to the actual sentence, not to a summary of how it made you feel, and keep the screenshots with the timestamps visible.

04 Recent separationLeaving, or being found out planning to leave

What it looks like: A separation in the past year, whether or not it lasted.
A divorce action started, or a lawyer consulted.
Moving out, changing locks, opening a separate bank account.
Telling anyone what has been happening.
Why it is on the list: This is the single most misunderstood factor. The most dangerous period is the days to months after the other person discovers that you may be leaving, or that you have disclosed the abuse. Separation raises the risk of both lethality and repeat violence. Domestic violence does not end at separation or divorce, and studies show it frequently escalates and intensifies at exactly that point.
What a New York court can do: Family Court Act section 828 and Domestic Relations Law section 240 authorize temporary child support, so leaving does not have to mean leaving without money.
Domestic Relations Law section 236(B)(5-a) covers temporary spousal maintenance.
Real Property Law section 227-c lets a victim of domestic violence terminate a residential lease by written notice to the landlord, effective no earlier than 30 days out, where a qualifying order of protection is in place. Without such an order the tenant first obtains a court order under section 227-c(2)(b), and Domestic Relations Law section 240(3)(f) authorizes a matrimonial court to issue it.
Domestic Relations Law section 236(B)(5)(d)(14) requires a matrimonial court to consider domestic violence when dividing marital property.
What helps your attorney: An advocate can help you plan the timing. This is the specific scenario safety planning exists for, and it is free.

05 Stalking and monitoringFollowing, tracking, showing up

What it looks like: Repeated calls, texts or emails, including after being asked to stop.
Unwanted gifts left at your door or your workplace.
Monitoring your phone, your computer, your social media, or logging into your accounts.
GPS trackers, hidden cameras, location sharing you did not agree to, smart home devices, car tracking.
Driving past your home, school or work, or turning up wherever you are.
Why it is on the list: Stalking increases the risk of lethality, and technology has made it cheap and invisible. Violent jealousy and stalking behaviors frequently occur together, and both are risk factors in their own right.
What a New York court can do: Stalking, Penal Law sections 120.45 through 120.60.
Family Court Act section 842(k) allows a court to order a person to refrain from remotely controlling any connected device affecting the home, vehicle or property of the protected person, as a condition of a temporary or final order of protection. This is the provision that reaches smart locks, thermostats, cameras and car telematics.
The parallel matrimonial provisions are Domestic Relations Law sections 240(3)(a)(9) and 252(1)(i).
What helps your attorney: Keep a log with dates and times. A pattern of twenty small contacts reads very differently to a judge than one contact described as constant.

06 Sexual violenceForced sex, reproductive coercion, intimate images

What it looks like: Being forced or pressured into sex.
Being forced to become pregnant, or forced to have an abortion.
Sabotage of birth control.
Threats to share, or actual sharing, of intimate images.
Why it is on the list: Forced sex within a relationship is a recognized lethality factor. It is also one of the hardest things for a survivor to disclose, and it rarely comes out at a first meeting. Its absence from an early account does not mean it did not happen.
What a New York court can do: Penal Law Article 130 covers the sexual offenses.
Penal Law section 245.15 covers unlawful dissemination or publication of an intimate image. A threat to disseminate can itself be charged as harassment.
What helps your attorney: You can disclose this later, to your attorney or to an advocate, without your earlier account being treated as a lie. Trauma-informed practice expects this.

07 Violent jealousy and controlControl over money, movement, contact

What it looks like: Control over most or all of your daily activities.
Constant or violent jealousy, accusations of cheating.
Control of the bank accounts, the car, the money.
Destroyed property, smashed phones, punched walls.
Interference with work, or making sure you cannot hold a job.
Why it is on the list: Coercive control is the engine of domestic violence, not a milder version of it. The New York definition of domestic violence is built around it. Physical violence is one tactic among many, and in many of the most dangerous cases it is not the most frequent one.
What a New York court can do: Criminal mischief, Penal Law sections 145.00 through 145.12.
Grand larceny, Penal Law sections 155.30 and 155.35.
Identity theft, Penal Law sections 190.78 through 190.80.
Financial control is directly relevant to temporary support and to counsel fees.
What helps your attorney: Economic relief is one of the most transformative things an order can provide, because economic dependence is one of the top reasons survivors stay. Do not treat the money as a separate issue from the safety.

08 Criminal history and order violationsPrior cases, prior orders, avoided arrests

What it looks like: Prior criminal cases of any kind, not only domestic ones.
Prior orders of protection, and any violation of them.
Times police were called but the person had left before officers arrived.
Other civil cases alleging domestic violence.
Threats made to you for calling the police or for going forward with a case.
Why it is on the list: Prior orders and criminal history are risk factors for re-assault. Avoiding arrest is itself a lethality factor, which is counterintuitive: a person who has learned how to leave before the police arrive has learned the system.
What a New York court can do: Family Court Act section 814 directs court rules facilitating record sharing and communication between the criminal and family courts, so the two cases do not proceed blind to each other.
Prior orders and prior convictions against the petitioner are exactly what Family Court Act section 827(a)(vii) defines as aggravating circumstances, and aggravating circumstances are also what supports a five-year order under section 842.
If there is an active criminal domestic violence case, the matter may be eligible for Integrated Domestic Violence court, where one judge hears the related criminal, family and matrimonial matters.
What helps your attorney: Your attorney should run the Family Court and matrimonial registry checks under Family Court Act section 651(e)(3), for orders of protection, sex offender registry entries and outstanding Family Court warrants. Ask whether it was done.

09 Assault during pregnancyViolence while pregnant

What it looks like: Any physical violence during a pregnancy.
Violence that began or escalated during a pregnancy.
Injuries to the abdomen.
Why it is on the list: Assault during pregnancy increases the risk of lethality. It is also its own category of harm, because the exposure to the child begins before birth.
What a New York court can do: Relevant to the issuance, the terms and the duration of an order of protection, and to custody under Domestic Relations Law section 240(1)(a) and Family Court Act section 651.
What helps your attorney: Medical records from the pregnancy may carry documentation you have forgotten about, including notes made without you framing the visit as a domestic violence disclosure.

10 Threats to petsHarming or threatening the animals

What it looks like: Threats to get rid of, hurt or kill a pet.
Actual harm to an animal.
Using the animal to keep you from leaving.
Why it is on the list: Harming pets is a lethality factor. It is also one of the concrete reasons survivors do not leave, because the animal cannot come to most shelters and cannot be left behind safely.
What a New York court can do: Domestic Relations Law section 240(3)(a)(7) and Family Court Act section 842(i) allow an order of protection to cover companion animals. The pet can be protected by the order. Domestic Relations Law section 252(1)(g) is the third parallel.
What helps your attorney: Say it out loud even if it feels minor next to everything else. Most people do not know the pet can be named in the order, and it changes what is possible.

11 EscalationMore often, or worse, over time

What it looks like: Incidents more frequent than a year ago.
Incidents more severe than a year ago.
A recent incident that was the worst so far.
Abuse that has continued while a court case is already pending.
Why it is on the list: Most domestic violence cases escalate in severity over time. That trajectory, rather than any single incident, is what predicts what happens next, and it is what a court needs to see.
What a New York court can do: Increased severity or frequency supports a longer order, a broader order, and a finding of aggravating circumstances.
Expenses for medical care and treatment arising from the incidents behind the order can be allocated under Family Court Act section 842(h).
What helps your attorney: Describe the first incident, the worst incident and the most recent incident. Three fixed points define a line, and that line is the case.

12 A child who is not the abuser's biological childA step-child or a partner's child in the home

What it looks like: A minor in the household who is not the biological child of the person causing harm.
Why it is on the list: This appears on lethality checklists and it surprises people every time. Having a child in the home who is not the abuser's biological child increases the risk of both lethality and repeat violence. It is a statistical finding, not a judgment about any particular family.
What a New York court can do: Children may be protected parties on a temporary or final order. Family Court Act section 821-a(2)(b) reaches the petitioner's children and any other children residing in the household; Domestic Relations Law section 240(3)(a)(1), (3) and (5) are the parallel matrimonial provisions.
Family Court Act section 842 lets the court award custody of the child during the term of the order of protection. In a pending matrimonial the custody power runs through Domestic Relations Law section 240(3), while section 252 is what lets the Supreme Court issue the order of protection in the first place.
What helps your attorney: Name every child in the household when you describe who lives there, including children who are not yours and children who are not the other party's.

13 Your own belief that they will kill youWhat your instinct is telling you

What it looks like: A belief that the other person will re-assault you.
A belief that the other person will kill you, or the children.
A specific fear about a specific date, event or trigger.
Why it is on the list: This is a recognized risk factor that carries real weight in a courtroom, not a feeling to be set aside. Campbell's research found that survivors seldom over-estimate the danger they are in, and frequently under-estimate it. If you believe it, a court is entitled to consider it, and the training tells attorneys to put it in the petition.
What a New York court can do: This is an evidence point rather than a statutory one. A moving party's belief in the harm is a recognized lethality factor on the assessment tools attorneys are trained on, and the Risk Factor Guide tells them to raise it, but no New York statute codifies it by name.
Where the safety of the petitioner is endangered, or aggravating circumstances exist, a court may issue a warrant under Family Court Act section 827(a)(v) and (a)(vii). Aggravating circumstances there include a history of repeated violations of prior orders of protection and prior convictions for crimes against the petitioner.
What helps your attorney: Say why. A court can act on a belief supported by a reason far more easily than on a belief stated alone. What have you seen that makes you think this.

What to do with this

If several of these are familiar, the next call is to an advocate, not necessarily to a lawyer. Communication with a domestic violence advocate is privileged, it costs nothing, and safety planning is exactly what they do. The Erie County list has the numbers.

If you are ready to file, which court and which order covers the three doors into an order of protection and what one can be written to include.

Where to go next

Filing

Which court, which order

Family Court, Criminal Court and Supreme Court are different tools, not alternatives. Five questions, then what an order can actually be written to include.

Help

Erie County help

Fourteen real local organizations with real numbers. A 24 hour hotline, a 36 bed shelter, and a forensic unit that documents strangulation.

What these pages are

General legal information about New York law, published by Weinrieb Law, a family law firm in Williamsville, New York. This is attorney advertising. It is not legal advice, it does not create an attorney client relationship, and it is not a risk assessment of any individual situation. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

These pages set no advertising or analytics cookies and keep nothing you click, mark or type. Like the rest of this site, they note how you arrived (from a search, for example) for this browser tab only, and that note is erased when the tab closes. They cannot erase the visit from your browsing history.

Statutory references are to the New York Family Court Act, Domestic Relations Law, Penal Law and Real Property Law. Statutes change. Confirm current law before relying on any of it.

Sources

Identifying Risk and Lethality Factors in Domestic Violence Cases, Erie Institute of Law and Bar Association of Erie County, presented by Hon. Sheila Schwanekamp (Ret.), December 10, 2025.
Domestic Violence Risk Factor Guide for Civil Legal Attorneys, January 20, 2024, adapted from the New York State guide for Family Court judges. Center for Court Innovation.
Lawyer's Manual on Domestic Violence: Representing the Victim, 6th Edition, New York State Unified Court System.
Domestic Violence, Developing Brains, and the Lifespan, Lynn Hecht Schafran, The Judges' Journal 53(3), Summer 2014.

Sources, continued

Working with Survivors of Abuse: A Trauma Informed Approach, Public Interest Pro Bono Association.
Laws of New York 1996, Chapter 85, and Laws of 2009, Chapter 476.
Campbell et al., Risk Factors for Femicide in Abusive Relationships, American Journal of Public Health 93(7):1089 (2003).
Campbell, Helping Women Understand Their Risk in Situations of Intimate Partner Violence, Journal of Interpersonal Violence 19(12):1464 (2004).
2025 Domestic Violence Court Advocate List for Erie County, last updated January 31, 2024.