Protective Orders in Virginia Now Easier to Get Against Dating Partners

Domestic violence between people who are dating, but not married, has been painfully on the minds of Virginians since the May 2010 murder of University of Virginia student and lacrosse player Yeardley Love. Her former boyfriend, fellow student and lacrosse player George Huguely awaits trial for her killing, charged with first-degree murder, felony murder and other crimes.

The Virginia State Crime Commission was working on the dating-violence issue at the time Love was killed. Her death brought the issue into sharper focus for lawmakers, creating a legislative climate eager to find solutions to relationship abuse.

At particular risk are high school and college students. Startlingly, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a 2009 national survey found that 9.8 percent of high school students admitted to having been "hit, slapped, or physically hurt on purpose by their boyfriend or girlfriend" in the previous year.

The Crime Commission and Delegate Rob Bell, R-Albemarke, sponsored a new law that expands the availability of protective orders (in many states called restraining orders) to reach threatening dating partners and others outside only family relationships or housemates. Under a civil protective order the threatening perpetrator is not allowed to have contact with the victim or if necessary the victim's family or household members. Violation of a protective order can bring criminal penalties.

The Protective Order Omnibus Bill was passed unanimously in the Virginia legislature in February 2011 and took effect on July 1, 2011.

Before the new law, Virginia protective orders were available from the courts in two ways. First, family-abuse protective orders could be obtained against household and family members (including people with children in common) for acts of violence or threats causing injuries or creating the fear of injuries.

Second, stalking or serious-injury protective orders could be obtained against people outside the household or family only if the petitioner seeking protection had already been stalked or injured at the hands of the perpetrator, and a warrant for arrest had been issued.

This two-tiered system made it much more difficult (actual stalking or injury plus warrant) to get official protection from someone outside the home or family, like a boyfriend with which the victim did not live, co-worker, neighbor or acquaintance.

Under the new law the focus is on the violent or threatening behavior of the perpetrator, regardless of the type of relationship to the victim or whether an arrest warrant has been issued.

Domestic-abuse advocates and public safety officials applaud the new law and the increased protection it will provide potential victims. On the other side of the coin, anyone who is the object of a petition for a protective order should consult with an experienced criminal defense attorney to mount a domestic violence defense.