Commentary : Stricter Measures Are Needed to Protect the Lives of Victims of Abuse

All too frequently in recent weeks, we hear or read about a woman being shot, stabbed or burned to death by her former lover or husband.

The stories have common threads: Each terrorized victim told others of her fear and obtained a restraining order (more than 90% of applicants for restraining orders are female) for protection from the man she feared, only to be murdered as she left her place of employment, left her home to go to work or attempted to reason with him.

Their deaths were sudden and brutal. These women were repeatedly harassed, followed, threatened and abused in other ways by men who were obsessed with punishing their prey.

What can be done to protect victims and interrupt this pattern before it gets to the final, killing stage?

The answer is complex. Increased protection for victims of domestic violence requires strict enforcement of restraining orders by the justice system, education of everyone involved and coordinated community services.

In most cases, the women who died violent deaths and the thousands of other women who suffer all the other forms of intimidation and retaliation short of murder had appealed to the courts for protection. What they got in return was a piece of paper--a restraining order--that in their cases did not deter their rejected lovers or spouses from further abuse.

Nevertheless, restraining orders serve important functions. For one thing, they are an acknowledgement by the justice system that the situation exists and is dangerous. Restraining orders also help document a history of violence by serving as a “paper trail.” Finally, some abusers take them seriously and cease their criminal behavior.

The problem is with the men who ignore court orders. Laws designed to protect people must be more strenuously enforced by both victims and the system. Too often, victims get a false sense of security once restraining orders are issued, and they let their guards down, failing to take the precautions that they had earlier. Abusers quickly get this message.

The court officer who issues the order should caution petitioners against a false sense of security. The judicial system could distribute multilanguage pamphlets with all restraining orders containing warnings about maintaining vigilance and encouraging petitioners to demand enforcement by police when the orders are violated.

The major changes to strengthen enforcement must occur in the justice system, beginning with law enforcement. Police officers need to inform victims about their rights; give them information about community services; arrest for probable cause as well as when restraining orders are violated, and make greater use of emergency protective orders (temporary restraining orders issued at an officer’s telephoned request during hours when court is closed). When this does not happen, lawbreakers get the message.

Officers must understand the danger to victims and their children when they respond to domestic violence calls. Response is generally improving but it is inconsistent. Even though the law requires all officers to be given domestic-violence training, police departments in two large Orange County cities have not obeyed the law. The result is that, even more than in other jurisdictions, where there still are some enforcement problems, officers in these two cities are often unable to recognize valid orders, do not arrest violators and are less likely to request emergency protective orders for victims.

All law enforcement officers need even more training, as well as administrative support and directives calling for the use of emergency protective orders when needed and for arrests, especially for violation of restraining orders. Officers may use their own judgment, but policy comes from the top.

The next step to strengthen the effectiveness of restraining orders is in the prosecutor’s office. Many dedicated police officers become discouraged from arresting for noncompliance because in most cases nothing happens when they make arrests.

Batterers get another message. If prosecutors took these criminal cases seriously and prosecuted them, abusers would get a different message very quickly.

Judges and commissioners can also help protect victims by resisting the temptation to issue mutual restraining orders, which imply that victims are equally culpable under the law. This sends a very harmful message.

Next, judges must include “kick-out orders,” which are essential in restraining orders relating to cohabiting couples. Police are uncertain how to respond to violations without such an order. Allowing an abusive mate to continue living in the same household with his victim is tantamount to telling the fox he can live in the henhouse but he should not disturb the chickens.

In Orange County in 1988, more than 2,000 people applied for temporary restraining orders, and more than 11,000 calls for help were received by police. In 1989, just 288 cases were filed in criminal court by the district attorney’s office. When these few, select cases filter through to them, judges must take domestic violence crimes and violations of restraining orders very seriously and impose the harshest sentences possible.

Victims need not suffer and die! Abusers need to know that they must stay away from their victims and cease their violence and intimidation, or else the system will come down on them very swiftly and very hard. Most will get the message.

Victims need time free of fear to analyze their situations, explore resources and check into services and programs.

The resources are there, but the community needs to work together to give victims alternatives and opportunities to strengthen their determination to build violence-free lives for themselves and their children. When both the abusers and their victims get the right kind of messages, restraining orders will successfully restrain.