Tips for Documenting Abuse

Documenting abuse can help you recognize patterns of behavior, identify escalating behavior, and provide evidence to law enforcement or the court if legal assistance is sought. Below are tips to help ensure the documentation you keep can be as useful as possible, especially if brought into court. In order for courts to have an accurate idea of what types of behaviors and abuse you may be experiencing, documentation should include as many details as possible.

Below are strategies for documenting and capturing the right information on many of the sites and device features you may use. Although we cannot account for every type of technology evidence that may be misused, this information will provide you with general evidentiary considerations and how to tell if you’re collecting strong or potentially inadmissible evidence.

For a more detailed description of how to capture the necessary details of various types of technologies please see this article on How to Gather Technology Abuse Evidence for Court. For more information on the court process and using your documentation in court, see the More and FAQ’s sections.