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Do protection from abuse orders work?
Sunday, August 29, 1999 By Mackenzie Carpenter, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
In 1976, Pennsylvania was the first state in the country to enact a law allowing victims of domestic violence to obtain a civil order of protection.
Twenty-three years later, the other 49 states have followed suit.
But do protection from abuse orders, or PFAs, work?
Most law enforcement officials and domestic violence experts believe that they do, although studies have been few and have yielded mixed results.
In 1996, an analysis of the existing research by Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Fagan found "little conclusive evidence of either deterrent or protective effects of legal sanctions or treatment interventions" for domestic violence. But in 1998, a study by the National Institute of Justice came up with more promising data: Of 285 women who filed for PFAs in three jurisdictions across the country, about two-thirds considered protection orders to be a deterrent against further physical and psychological abuse and of value in helping them regain a sense of well-being.
But such orders were not as effective against those with a lengthy history of violent offenses, the study found. The more serious the criminal record, the less likely the abuser will abide by the PFA. In fact, "Women in these cases were more likely to report a greater number of problems with violations of the PFA order."
The key ingredients for successful implementation of PFA orders, notes Barbara Hart of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, include 24-hour access to the courts (abuse occurs most frequently at night and on weekends); help for victims in completing petitions; and comprehensive court orders tailored to the petitioner's immediate situation, including provisions for housing, custody, firearms and economic relief.
"Context is important," Hart said. "Protection orders work as well as the community system in which they are embedded. Are there services already in place for women? Is there a timely and comprehensive police response -- including arrest of the batterer and safety planning for the victim? What community safety plans and homicide prevention planning are in place to avert lethal violence?"
Protection from abuse orders are not "particularly effective" by themselves, added Edward W. Gondolf, an expert on violence research at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Still, they can be a remarkably powerful tool when combined with financial support, victims' services and enhanced police and court response to violations.
A 1990 study by Gondolf, Hart and other researchers of 200 cases in Berks County found that, "While protection orders were liberally granted, the provisions for the orders appeared inadequate to ensure separation from the abuser, given the low financial status of many petitioners and the abuser's visitation and or joint custody of the children."
In other words, when PFAs fail, it's often because a judge hasn't included language ordering that the abuser continue to support the familyfin, or requiring that child visitation be supervised. An absence of those provisions makes it more difficult for the victim to separate from her abuser and get on with her life, says Gondolf.
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