If you are a victim of domestic violence, there are several ways you can seek protection from your abuser. The best choice for you will depend on your specific situation.
One option is to get an order of protection from the court. This can be a temporary or permanent one that can prevent the abuser from coming near you and your children. It can also prevent them from making threats, committing criminal acts and even going to the police.
This is a very common option for people who are trying to protect themselves and their children from domestic violence. It is an option for victims who are in the middle of a divorce case or other family-related dispute or who are in the process of a criminal trial and need to be protected from their abuser during the proceedings.
A protection order can prevent the abuser from coming close to you, your children, or anyone else in your household, and may include restrictions on their contact with you, such as no phone calls, letters, or messages through other people. In addition, the judge can order the abuser to stay away from you, your home, work and any other location where you have lived or are living.
The judge can also make orders to help you with other aspects of your situation, such as getting legal assistance or obtaining medical care if needed. If the abuser tries to leave or has a gun, the judge can require that they surrender it to you or to the police.
It is important to know that there are no guarantees, but this can be a very effective way to keep the abuser away from you. If they violate the order, they can be arrested, charged with a crime, lose their possessions and thrown out of your house.
Using data from 149 women who applied for a 2-year protection order, we examined the relationship between receipt of a protective order and the types and frequencies of intimate partner violence experienced at 3, 6, 12, and 18 months after the initial contact with the justice system (i.e., when the order was granted). In addition, we examined how relationships, age, and race, gender, education, and income status varied among these women.
Overall, our results suggest that abused women who seek a protective order experience significantly lower levels of intimate partner violence over time, regardless of whether they were granted the order or not. This finding is important to health care providers, justice agencies, and shelter workers.
Moreover, this study suggests that receiving a protection order can be effective in helping victims of intimate partner violence stop the abuse, and may be particularly beneficial for women who are young, unemployed, or from low-income families. As such, these types of orders are an important tool to support a more peaceful, healthy society. In particular, they can reduce the risk of femicide, which is often associated with abuse.
