Penal Code §273.5
California Penal Code 273.5: corporal injury and domestic violence
PC 273.5 concerns willful corporal injury causing a traumatic condition in a qualifying relationship. Read the elements, injury definition, and difference from domestic battery.
What section 273.5 covers
Section 273.5(a) addresses willfully inflicting corporal injury that results in a traumatic condition on a person within a relationship listed in subdivision (b). The relationship and the resulting condition are separate parts of the statute; a domestic disagreement alone does not establish both.
The listed relationships include a spouse or former spouse, cohabitant or former cohabitant, fiancé or a current or former dating or engagement partner, and the other parent of the person’s child. The statute contains additional rules about cohabitation and parentage.
What a traumatic condition means
Subdivision (d) includes a wound or external or internal injury caused by physical force. The injury may be minor or serious. The definition expressly includes injury resulting from strangulation or suffocation and explains that interference with normal breathing or blood circulation can fall within those terms.
A useful review separates what the witnesses describe from what photographs, medical records, and the sequence of events show. The statutory definition does not require a serious injury in every case.
How this differs from PC 243(e)(1)
Section 243(e)(1) addresses battery involving specified domestic relationships. Section 273.5 expressly requires the resulting traumatic condition. The two sections should not be treated as interchangeable labels, and the exact charging language matters.
Sentencing and protective orders
Section 273.5 contains state-prison and county-jail sentencing alternatives, prior-conviction provisions, probation requirements, and protective-order provisions. A single headline penalty does not describe all of those rules. The applicable subdivision, prior history, other allegations, and court orders need individual review.
A person’s request to resume contact does not itself modify a court order. The current statute describes a process for the issuing court to modify or terminate a protective order; the written order should be read before any contact is attempted.
Common questions
Does PC 273.5 require a serious injury?
No. The statutory definition of traumatic condition includes minor as well as serious injury caused by physical force. Whether the evidence establishes that condition remains a separate factual question.
Is PC 273.5 the same as domestic battery?
No. Compare the traumatic-condition requirement in PC 273.5 with the battery provision in PC 243(e)(1). The relationship lists and other provisions also need to be read carefully.
Sources
- California Penal Code section 273.5 leginfo.legislature.ca.gov Source checked on 2026-10-27