Judge’s have the ability to enforce an Order of Protection for people whether it’s because of the nature of the offense, or by request of the victim.
They can be temporary or permanent, and work to keep the abuser from coming into contact with the victim.
Estimates say that 50% of people issued a court order to not contact a victim violate it.
A stay away order is supposed to keep the defendant from contacting the victim in any way possible including passing messages by third party contact.
Other kinds of orders tell the defendant to refrain from any type of harmful contact to the victim or witnesses or their pets. This means they may see the victim and be in contact but cannot conduct harmful behavior.
All firearms must also be turned over in some cases of orders of protection.
Sometimes the court order is violated because the victim wants to be in contact with the defendant.
Anyone choosing to violate the order of protection can find themselves in jail, but part of the issue is that courts rarely enforce the penalties for violating.
Judges have the ability to enforce cash bail on some crimes, but have become less likely to enforce it as they’ve lost discretion.
There are cases often where defendants violate court orders repeatedly and when arrested are let out on bail instead of the judge setting cash bail if at all possible.
Some of these cases, like the case of Aaron Bell in 2014, result in harm or death.
Bell violated an order of protection, something he had a history of doing, and shot a woman and her son in Newark.
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