Domestic violence protection orders and their role in ensuring personal security

Abstract

In Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom (U.K.) and the United States (U.S.) civil domestic violence protection orders have become the most common legal remedy employed by, or on behalf of, women experiencing domestic violence. A protection order aims to restrict and prohibit a perpetrator of domestic violence from committing further acts of violence against a person in an effort to ensure her personal security. Drawing on qualitative research undertaken in Queensland, Australia, this chapter considers women’s experience of protection orders. It considers whether they find them helpful and, when they do find them helpful, why this is so. The majority of participants were optimistic about the helpfulness of their domestic violence order, and identified many reasons for this assessment, including but not limited to improved safety and security.