ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of research and practices related to the process of obtaining civil orders of protection, used (mostly) by adult victims of domestic battery/violence. In general, orders of protection are designed to prevent, by threat of imprisonment, any further physical contact or even communication by the abuser toward a victim. These protection orders are a civil remedy, obtained not in a criminal court, but instead from a domestic relations judge, who can enter a temporary protection order within hours. Available in all 50 states, recent studies reveal that, many times, alleged victims seek civil protection orders in lieu of reporting the violence to law enforcement (Keilitz, Hannaford, & Efkeman, 1997, p. 12). The underlying reasons for this preference become abundantly clear as the chapter unfolds.
