Chapter 05.1: Battered Immigrants and Civil Protection Orders [pdf]

Civil protection orders are available in all fifty states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and all U.S territories and are designed to protect battered individuals from their abusers. The civil protection order aims to offer the victim protection from future abuse and can be crafted to uniquely address and counter abuse, power, and control in each particular relationship. When civil protection orders are appropriately drafted and consistently enforced, they can provide effective protection for victims of domestic violence. Most importantly, civil protection orders provide a victim-initiated and controlled justice response to domestic violence that does not require criminal justice system involvement. Civil protection orders are initiated by the victim, thus a victim can choose to pursue this justice-system remedy without reliance on the criminal courts. This chapter discusses civil protection orders in depth.