COURT RESPONSE TO PETITIONS FOR CIVIL PROTECTION ORDERS

Civil protection orders offer abused women a legal means to maintain t heir residences apart from the abuser and exert some autonomy in their relationships. The implementation of protection order statutes remain s, however, largely unclear. Court records were examined for 200 petit ioners randomly selected from 674 petitions for protection orders file d in one Pennsylvania county court during the year 1990. Court dockets , court petitions, and protection orders were coded for petitioner bac kground, court factors, case disposition, and protective provisions. A pproximately three quarters (76%) of the petitioners did receive a fin al protection order. In the majority of cases not receiving a protecti on order, the petitioners withdrew or dropped their petitions. The fin al protection orders limited the batterer's contact in some way and pr ohibited his future acts of abuse. However, the provisions regarding r estricted contact, child custody and visitation, financial support, an d property allocation were much less extensive than requested. Relevan t background factors and court factors were not significantly associat ed with the outcome of the case, except for being in a marriage relati onship. While protection orders were liberally granted, the provisions for the orders appeared inadequate to ensure separation from the abus er, given the low financial status of many petitioners and the abuser' s visitation or joint custody of the children. Means to ensure more ex tensive and more comprehensive provisions may be needed.