Fighting the crime of domestic violence starts with taking appropriate legal action to protect the victim from the abuser.   The victims of domestic violence  have several  restraining order options available to protect themselves from further abuse.  These orders don’t stop an abuser from stalking or hurting a victim, but they do permit the victim to call the police and have the abuser arrested if they break the order. 

A protection order may include many different provisions, including:

• No Contact Provision: Prohibiting the abuser from calling, texting, emailing, stalking, attacking, hitting, or disturbing the victim
• Peaceful Contact Provision: Permitting the abuser to peacefully communicate with the victim for limited reasons, including care and transfer for visitation of their child
• Stay Away Provision: Ordering the abuser to stay at least a certain number of yards or feet away from the victim, his or her home, job, school, and car. The stay-away distance can vary by state, judge or the lethality of the situation, but is often at least 100 yards or 300 feet
• Move Out Provision: Requiring the abuser to move out of a home shared with the victim
• Firearms Provision: Requiring the abuser to surrender any guns he or she possesses  (about 2/3rds of states) and/or prohibiting the abuser from purchasing a firearm
• Counseling Provision: Ordering the abuser to attend counseling, such as batterer’s intervention or anger management

Protection orders may include children, other family members, roommates, or current romantic partners of the victim. This means the same no contact and stay away rules apply to the other listed individuals, even if the direct harm was to the victim. Some states allow pets to be protected by the same order, as abusers may harm pets to torment their victims.

Once the order is put in place the abuser may request a hearing to fight the order. The parties will need to appear before a judge to determine if the order shall remain in effect. It is best to have an attorney present to fight to keep the order of protection in place and to allow the victim some legal authority to protect themselves.

If the order of protection is violated it can be treated in one of three ways: as a felony, misdemeanor, or contempt of court. Felony charges are typically reserved for either repeat or serious violations.  In many states, police policy is to arrest violators of these orders automatically.

Due to public awareness of the problem of domestic violence, more resources now exists for victims than in the past.   

Help for Victims

• National Domestic Violence Hotline
  1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
  1-800-787-3224 (TTY)
  www.ndvh.org

• Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network
  1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
  www.rainn.org

• National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC)
  1-877-739-3895
  www.nsvrc.org

• National Center for Victims of Crime, Stalking Resource Center
  1-800-394-2255
  1-800-211-7996 (TTY)
  www.ncvc.org

• National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline
  1-866-331-9474
  1-866-331-8453 TTY
  www.loveisrespect.org

Source: Find Law  Orders of protection viewed on Nov 25, 2014