Singles Denied Domestic Violence Protection in Virginia March 26, 2009
Posted by Onely in As If!, Take action.Tags: domestic violence, npr, teen dating, virginia laws
trackback
I heard on NPR this morning that in Virginia you can only get a domestic violence protection order if you are married, living together, or have a child together. I *think* this is what I heard–I was madly trying to find some unwrinkled work slacks and not get moisturizer on my blouse at the time, so I might have misheard. I hope I misheard. I can’t find the story on NPR, but I remember the segment was about teen dating and described how some teenagers have no protection against obsessive crazy ex’es from whom they fear violence. So for our Copious Readership in Virginia: let’s write our representatives and get this (as far as I can tell) nonsensical law changed!
–CC
Onely.Org 
don’t you think with all the drama lately that this will change? What’s the difference between a restraining order and domestic violence protection order? I am guessing they are similar…
I don’t know, I was wondering where restraining orders play into all this–I looked at the Virginia law page about domestic violence and then got overwhelmed and surfed out of that one! CC
I think there’s a piece on it over at Feministing.com
Here in Nevada protective orders are TRO’s, Temporary Restraining Orders, and the initial purpose was for victims of domestic abuse to get some protection. Anyone can file for one, but I’m not familiar with age requirements. The judge issues on case by case basis, but there is still a lot of abuse of this system. Unfortunately, they are placed in the position of having to err on the side of caution. The other down-side is that an already angry individual often becomes angrier when served with this type of order. Unless there is a very clear and present threat, I know of many attorneys who advise against it.
I looked this up for TX when my ex was creeping me out and wouldn’t leave me alone. If I remember correctly, in order to get a restraining order or protective order I would have to either: have been abused by him, have been living with or married to him, have been directly threatened by him.
Basically, in order for me to get a restraining order, I would have to have already suffered some kind of abuse either verbal, physical or matrimonial.
Fortunately he finally gave up pestering me.