Avoid Venetian magistrate imprisoning daughter (5)
I believe the answer is:
dodge
'avoid' is the definition.
(dodging is a kind of avoiding)
'venetian magistrate imprisoning daughter' is the wordplay.
'venetian magistrate' becomes 'doge' (I've seen this before).
'imprisoning' indicates putting letters inside.
'daughter' becomes 'd'.
'doge' placed around 'd' is 'DODGE'.
(Other definitions for dodge that I've seen before include "Avoid - Kansas city" , "A quick evasive movement" , "Avoid by quick movement" , "Evasion" , "Evade - trick" .)