Orders of Protection in St. Louis, Missouri

This study examined the disposition of petitions for protection orders in St. Louis County, Missouri. Two major issues were examined. The first issue investigated in this study concerned the ability of adults claiming to have been abused in St. Louis County, Missouri to obtain ex parte orders of protection from their purported abusers. The second issue investigated in this study concerned the ability of adults claiming to have been abused in St. Louis County, Missouri to obtain full orders of protection from their purported abusers.

Two disturbing findings of the research performed for this project were that (1) the proportion of petitions for ex parte protection orders granted in St. Louis County is decreasing substantially and (2) the proportion of petitions for full protection orders that are dismissed in St. Louis County for reasons of either the failure to serve a subpoena on respondents when the locations of respondents are known or the failure of petitioners to appear in court is increasing substantially. A strong case may be made for the linkage of these two findings. When ex parte protection orders are denied, the respondent is virtually free to harass and threaten the petitioner to either withdraw the petition or to fail to appear in court. While the findings of the research performed for this study do not provide a causal link between these two findin

. . .
rital violence, but it was not a significant factor in severe violence. Although substance abuse is certainly a factor, the conclusion of this and previous studies was that most physical violence occurs in the absence of alcohol or other drugs use by the victim. A total of 25 states require arrest when a reported domestic dispute turns violent. Missouri's package of anti-domestic-violence laws, one of the nation's toughest, not only compels police to take abusers into custody at the scene of violence, but also requires arrest for a first violation of a restraining order. Subsequent violations bring mandatory jail time. Michigan's Model Policy for Law Enforcement Response to Domestic Violence reflects 22 separate bills addressing domestic violence signed by Governor Engler in 1994. The code covers the responsibilities of law enforcement in verifying and enforcing personal protection orders. This model policy is founded on the idea that the police should arrest domestic-violence assailants whenever arrest is authorized. The policy also ensures that victims are offered necessary information, support, and services. The code covers arrest, response, and investigation; victim assistance; supervision and training of police and p
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
County Missouri, Louis County, Syers Edleson, Ex Parte, Sherman Cohn, Peterson Peterson, Kaufman-Kantor Straus, Sherman Berk, Colorado Springsùarrest, Huizinga Elliott, st louis, louis county, st louis county, ex parte, ex parte protection, domestic violence, parte protection, petitions protection, county missouri, louis county missouri, adult abuse, battered women, protection granted, court st louis, appropriate court st,
Approximate Word count = 5761
Approximate Pages = 23 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Orders of Protection in St. Louis, Missouri