Are restraining orders effective?

Each year, North Carolina law enforcement issue several restraining orders to people in a variety of circumstances. If you have been looking into a restraining order as a solution to ongoing harassment, concern about your well-being or other circumstances, you may be wondering if your effort will be worth the outcome.

Psychology Today shared several reasons why a restraining order may not be as effective as it could be. These include the following:

• Sometimes, there may be instances which you do not feel obligated to report. However, reporting some things and not others can provide confusion for both the perpetrator and law enforcement. Whenever your restraining order has been violated in any way, it should be reported immediately, no matter how trivial the matter may seem.
• Are you confident that a restraining order is the most effective solution? Sometimes, your perpetrator may not be doing anything significant enough to warrant a restraining order and imposing one can only create greater tension, strain and anger.
• There are no guarantees that a restraining order will effectively control another person’s behavior. As a result, consider all of your other options and do not rely on a restraining order as your primary means of protection.
• Law enforcement is better able to enforce the rules in situations where you have been consistent about your statements and thorough about your reports. Otherwise, they are left to their own discretion to piece together what actually happened.

Your restraining order has the potential to be highly effective and part of the 85 percent success rate if you are thoughtful and careful about the way you approach the situation.

This information is not legal advice and should not be interpreted as such. Rather, it is provided for educational purposes only.