Skip to content
ImNotAnAttorney logo

North Carolina Domestic Violence Law

North Carolina Domestic Violence Penalties, N.C.G.S. § 50B-1; § 14-33(c)(2)

What you are facing under N.C.G.S. § 50B-1; § 14-33(c)(2), how the penalties scale, and the questions an attorney needs to answer — under North Carolina (NC) domestic-violence law.

North Carolina (NC) — Domestic Violence — Assault on a Female / Domestic Violence Assault

Offense class: Class A1 Misdemeanor; Felony if serious injury

Incarceration

– 150 days (Class A1); up to 88 months (Class E felony with serious injury)

Maximum Fine

Offense Class

Class A1 Misdemeanor; Felony if serious injury

What this costs

Visible before you click.

$127DUI Defense Playbook, delivered in Instant download.

Some legal-services sites publish their price openly. Some don't. Here's where each one lands today.

Every price on this site is the price. No “starting at.” No per-minute meter. No bait.

⚠

Federal firearms ban (

Lautenberg Amendment

Plain language

A federal law (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9)) that bans gun possession after a misdemeanor domestic-violence conviction — separate from state penalties.

)

A misdemeanor domestic-violence conviction in North Carolina triggers a federal firearms-possession ban under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9). This applies on top of any state sentence, no matter how the North Carolina case ends.

North Carolina Domestic Violence Penalty Range

FactorDetail
StatuteN.C.G.S. § 50B-1; § 14-33(c)(2)
OffenseDomestic Violence — Assault on a Female / Domestic Violence Assault
ClassClass A1 Misdemeanor; Felony if serious injury
Incarceration – 150 days (Class A1); up to 88 months (Class E felony with serious injury)
Maximum fine

Penalty Enhancements

Additional factors that can increase the sentence under North Carolina law.

  • Prior conviction of assault on female or crime of domestic violence: Class A1 misdemeanor at minimum
  • Strangulation: Class H felony under § 14-32.4(b)
  • Serious injury: escalated felony class

North Carolina note: Domestic violence covered under Chapter 50B civil protective orders and criminal assault statutes. Strangulation is separately Class H felony.

What you're afraid of

North Carolina domestic violence defendants tell us they're afraid of four things. Here's how we address each.

Every citation in your report links back to a real CourtListener URL or a real state statute page. Your attorney can verify everything in under five minutes. We sit alongside your attorney — we don't replace them.

  • What if I take the wrong plea — or the wrong sentence?

    Most defendants take the first plea offered. We pull the comparable cases in your district and your judge's prior rulings, so you can see what the floor actually is before deciding.

    See the Playbook

  • What if my attorney isn't actually listening — or preparing?

    Most defendants leave their attorney's office with more questions than they came in with. Not because attorneys are bad — the meeting is short and you didn't know what to ask. We hand you the questions, scored against your charge.

    Take the free Defense Score

  • I don't even know what I don't know.

    The hardest part of a criminal case is not knowing which questions matter. The Intelligence Brief pulls the most-cited opinions in your district + your charge, mapped to your judge's prior rulings, and surfaces the five questions that move the needle in front of this prosecutor.

    See what an Intelligence Brief covers

  • What if I bring my attorney a number they dismiss?

    If you bring your attorney a number they can't trace to a source, the conversation is over. Every number in our report is a hyperlink. Your attorney clicks, verifies, and the conversation continues.

    View a sample report

We're not here to replace your attorney. We're here to make sure you walk into their office knowing the right questions to ask.

What you're paying for is the time

Skip the 6-10 hours of reading. We already did it.

Defendants are already doing this work themselves — on r/legaladvice / r/Ask_Lawyers / Avvo Q&A, in Google searches, in the long thread of “what happens if I plead X” questions every public legal-help surface carries. The data is public. The reading is the work.

  • r/legaladvice + r/Ask_Lawyers (source): thousands of 'what happens if I plead X' threads, none of them indexed to your specific charge or your state's statute.

  • Avvo Q&A (source): per-charge plain-language threads, attorney answers gated behind per-minute meters.

  • Your state's official statute site: the actual statute text, the actual sentencing range, the actual enhancement triggers.

We hand you the synthesis — cited, hyperlinked, organized for your charge — for $127.

Get the DUI Defense Playbook — $127

Free — takes 2 minutes

Is your North Carolina domestic violence case defense on track?

The free Defense Score checks 10 critical defense behaviors specific to domestic violence cases. Takes 2 minutes. Instant results.

Check your defense score

DUI Defense Playbook

$127

26 questions that change how the next attorney meeting goes, a case stage roadmap, red flag checklist, and a case progress scorecard. Instant PDF download, relevant to North Carolina defendants.

Delivery: Instant download

Get the playbook

Other North Carolina defense topics

Facing a different charge in North Carolina? Penalty ranges, enhancements, and defense questions for related crimes:

DUI in North CarolinaDrug Possession in North CarolinaAssault in North Carolina

This page provides legal information — not legal advice — about North Carolina domestic violence law as of the date of publication. Laws change. Verify current statutes with a licensed attorney in North Carolina.