Corporal injury means willfully inflicting physical force on an intimate partner or family member that leaves an actual bodily injury, whether visible on the skin or internal. The phrase comes most directly from California Penal Code Section 273.5, which makes it a crime to cause a “traumatic condition” on a spouse, cohabitant, co-parent, fiancé, or current or former dating partner. Three things have to line up: a qualifying relationship, a willful physical act, and a resulting injury.
What Counts as an Injury
The statute defines a traumatic condition as any wound or bodily injury, internal or external, caused by physical force. Bruises, scratches, cuts, swelling, redness, broken bones, concussions, and internal bleeding all qualify. The injury does not have to be serious. Minor swelling from a shove can be enough if it came from the deliberate use of force.
Strangulation and suffocation are called out specifically. The law treats impeding normal breathing or blood circulation by applying pressure to the throat or neck as a traumatic condition in its own right. That language matters because strangulation often leaves little or no mark on the outside, and the statute makes clear those injuries still count.
Who the Law Covers
A corporal injury charge only applies when the two people share a specific kind of relationship. Under the California statute, that includes a current or former spouse, a current or former cohabitant, a fiancé or fiancée, a current or former dating partner, and the parent of your child.1California Legislative Information. California Penal Code PEN 273.5 That relationship requirement is what separates corporal injury from ordinary battery. Battery can happen between strangers and does not require a visible injury; corporal injury exists to target physical harm inside intimate or family relationships.
“Cohabitant” causes the most confusion. Courts don’t look only at a shared address. They weigh whether the couple shared living expenses, had a sexual relationship, pooled finances, or presented themselves to others as a couple. Definitions vary by jurisdiction. Some states require a romantic or sexual relationship, others include anyone sharing a dwelling, and a few set minimum time requirements such as 90 days of shared residence within the past year.2National Conference of State Legislatures. Domestic Violence/Domestic Abuse Definitions and Relationships Roommates who simply split rent typically do not qualify.
The Willful Act Requirement
The physical act has to be willful, meaning the person intended to do the act itself — the push, the grab, the punch. Prosecutors do not have to prove the defendant intended the particular injury that resulted. If you meant to shove someone and they fell and broke a wrist, the intent to shove is enough.1California Legislative Information. California Penal Code PEN 273.5
A genuine accident does not meet the standard. If someone trips and falls into their partner, there was no willful use of force. Corporal injury is a general intent crime, so the amount of force used is not what matters; what matters is that force was applied on purpose and that it produced an injury.
That classification also closes off one defense people often assume will work. Voluntary intoxication only negates specific intent, and general intent crimes like corporal injury do not require any specific intent to negate. Being drunk or high at the time of the incident is not a defense.3LII / Legal Information Institute. Intoxication
How the Charge Is Filed and Punished
Corporal injury in California is a “wobbler.” Prosecutors can file it as a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the severity of the injury, whether a weapon was involved, any pattern of repeated violence, and the defendant’s criminal history.
- Misdemeanor: up to one year in county jail, a fine of up to $6,000, or both.
- Felony with no qualifying priors: two, three, or four years in state prison, a fine of up to $6,000, or both.
- Felony with qualifying priors: if the offense occurred within seven years of a prior conviction for certain violent offenses, two, four, or five years in state prison, with a fine of up to $10,000.1California Legislative Information. California Penal Code PEN 273.5
If the victim suffered great bodily injury, a sentencing enhancement can add three to five years of prison time, served consecutively. A felony conviction with that enhancement also counts as a strike under California’s Three Strikes Law, which doubles any future felony sentence and can eventually reach 25 years to life.
Probation Instead of Prison
When a judge grants probation, the terms are strict. California law requires a minimum probation period of 36 months. The defendant must complete a batterer’s intervention program lasting at least one year, with weekly two-hour sessions and progress reports every three months. The court issues a criminal protective order shielding the victim from further violence, threats, and harassment. Probation cannot end until all program fees are paid in full.4California Legislative Information. California Penal Code PEN 1203.097
Consequences That Outlast the Sentence
The jail time and fines are often the smallest part of a corporal injury conviction. Several collateral consequences attach automatically and can last for years or for life.
Firearms
Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a felony from possessing a firearm. The Lautenberg Amendment goes further. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9), even a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction triggers a lifetime ban on possessing or purchasing firearms and ammunition. A qualifying misdemeanor is any offense involving the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon, against a spouse, co-parent, cohabitant, or similarly situated person. A corporal injury conviction fits that definition whether it was filed as a misdemeanor or a felony.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 The ban applies regardless of when the conviction occurred, and violating it is a separate federal crime.6United States Department of Justice Archives. Restrictions on the Possession of Firearms by Individuals Convicted of a Misdemeanor Crime of Domestic Violence
Immigration
For non-citizens, a corporal injury conviction can trigger deportation. Federal immigration law makes any conviction for a “crime of domestic violence” a deportable offense, with no distinction between misdemeanor and felony. The statute defines the term broadly as any crime of violence committed against a spouse, co-parent, cohabitant, or person protected under domestic or family violence laws.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1227 – Deportable Aliens It reaches lawful permanent residents who have lived in the country for decades.
Custody and Family Court
A domestic violence conviction creates a serious disadvantage in custody disputes. Many states apply a legal presumption against granting custody to a parent convicted of domestic violence within a recent window, often five years. The non-offending parent commonly receives sole legal and physical custody, and visitation for the convicted parent is typically supervised or restricted.
Employment and Licensing
The conviction shows up on background checks and can disqualify a person from jobs in law enforcement, education, healthcare, and any role requiring a professional license or security clearance. The firearms ban alone shuts the door on the military and most security-related work.
Defenses That Come Up Most Often
A few defenses recur in corporal injury cases, with varying strength depending on the facts.
Self-defense is the most direct when it fits. You have to show you reasonably believed you faced an imminent threat of unlawful force, that your response was proportional, and that you were not the one who started the physical confrontation.8LII / Legal Information Institute. Self-Defense Proportionality is where the defense most often falls apart. A shove in response to a slap may be proportional; throwing someone into a wall after a push to the shoulder generally is not.
Accident is a complete defense when it fits the facts, because the statute requires a willful act. Two people colliding in a doorway, or someone pulling away from a grab and falling, are the kinds of scenarios where no force was deliberately applied.
False allegations do happen, particularly in situations involving custody or divorce leverage. Defense work in these cases turns on inconsistencies in the accuser’s account, contradictions between statements and physical evidence, and communications that suggest an ulterior motive. Surveillance footage, time-stamped receipts, and GPS data can also establish that the defendant was not where the incident is said to have occurred.