We make a resolution to improve our behavior. Everybody loves to eat candy and drink soda. When it is done in small amounts as a treat, okay. When it is done in large amounts, it leads to obesity and health issues.

Alcoholic drinks of a single glass of wine with dinner. Okay. Drinkinging a bottle of wine every night by yourself is a bad thing. Perscription drugs, as the doctor prescribes, fine. Not how the doctor prescribes a bad thing.

Even visiting websites like Everygame casino login. Make a budget and stay within your budget. Fine. Go out of your budget. Not fine.

But what about when we are talking about abuse? Physical abuse? Verbal abuse? Sexual abuse? Psychological abuse? A mistake … you raise your voice when your child spills milk on your new phone. It happens. But when your reaction is to use your child as a punching bag, not fine.

When it is really bad, the police are notified. When it is approaching bad, a restraining order may be used. But do restraining orders help?

The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law wrote a technical article called "Do Protection Orders Protect?". So I am going to try to summarize what was written in the article, and put the most important point into plain English. But I would recommend reading the original article yourself.

The raw numbers

The protection of women who get a restraining order can range from 7% to 81%. That is a huge range. 17% of restraining orders go unserved.

Emergency orders last for 5 court days or 7 days. Temporary orders are effective for 3 weeks. Restraining orders are for 3 years. Permanent orders are for the life of either party.

Violation of protections can be civil, misdemeanor, or felony. Punishment can be fines or imprisonment. 20 states have mandatory arrest laws for order violations. But who knows if it ends up being actual jail time or just physically removing somebody from the property and putting them in "holding tank" until they sober up.

Limit of design of other studies

In other studies, there was no control groups.

In one study where there was a control group, they did not find statistically significant trend toward reduction in further abuse (56% vs 59%) or violence (24% vs 27%).

However, they found a significant reduction in a subset of the study group that had experienced less severe prior injuries.

In another study, found that abused women who applied and qualified for a two-year protection order reported significantly lower levels of violence in the subsequent 18 months, regardless of whether the order was implemented.

In a study involving 2,691 women who reported an incident of intimate partner violence to police, found that having a permanent protection order in effect was associated with an 80 percent reduction in police-reported physical violence in the next year.

How Time Affects Things …

Much of the violation activity occurs within the first three months after issuance of the order. Although they did find a quadrupling of psychological abuse during the period of a temporary protection order (3 weeks). But at the 9 month mark, there was no increased risk.

So in other words, during the first 3 weeks, when the abuser is trying to "get back" their "partner", they try using psychological abuse in order to "force" the person to "come back to them". (Yea … great way to convince somebody you are great person … abuse them even more. 🙄)

A 70 percent reduction in physical abuse and a 60 percent reduction in psychological abuse among women who maintained their protection orders throughout the follow-up (9 month, 18 month, and 24 month checkup).

So either the guy "got help", "ended up in jail", or "found somebody else to abuse".

How does Victim Characteristics affect things …

- Socioeconomic status – if a woman is not financially dependent on the guy, it is easier to completely walk away from the relationship both physically and emotionally.

- Presence of biological children with the abuser – if the guy still get visitation rights to the children, it is harder to completely break the relationship. The guy may also be emotionally attached to the relationship when children are involved. This is true even if the guy does not want (or care about the children). He just does not want the woman to "be happy" with the children.

- Race/ethnicity – Some cultures view women as second class citizens. This may also mean they do not have the emotional support of their family to help them get out of the bad relationship.

- Prior drug use by the victim – If you are high on drugs, you cannot think straight in order to make a plan for your life without the abusive person. It also limits your funds, and your self confidence.

Perpetrator Characteristics

- History of violence – Unless the person gets help (and wants to be helped), the cycle of violence cannot be broken.

- History of criminal acts – People who do criminal acts have lost their sense of right and wrong.

- Being male – Men and physically stronger than women, so it would be more likely that physical abuse would be done by a man against a woman.

- Youthful age – The study does not define what "youthful age" is, but as a person becomes older, the woman becomes older. Both get calmed down.

- Less than full-time employment – Men are traditionally considered the main breadwinner of the family. When they cannot do that role, it affects their self esteem and they take it out on "weaker people around them", aka their partner.

- Substance abuse – When a person does substance abuse, they do not think rationally and money is "wasted" on supporting their drug habit.

- Mental health conditions – If a person has mental health issues that are not "fixed", the violence will continue.

Relationship Factors

- Cohabitation with the abuser at the time of the original event leading to a protection order reduces the odds of future violation of the protection order. (does not make sense to me)

- The duration of abuse before initiation of the protection order was not related to incidence or type of abuse that occurred afterward.

- Women in relationships of more than five years are less likely to report re-abuse compared to women in relationships less than 1 year. (does not make sense to me)

- Severity of abuse before placement of a protection order does not predict its violation. (does not make sense to me)

- "Persistence in the pattern of violence" is related to the likelihood of renewed abuse. (only one of these that makes sense to me)

- When a violation occurs, the severity of prior abuse is significantly related to the severity of abuse in the year after the original protection order is placed. (make sense)

- The nature of behavior before the placement of a protection order predicts the occurrence of similar behavior afterward: violent behavior, threats of violence and property damage, and psychological abuse. (makes sense)

Legal System Factors

- The roles of the police, both in arresting suspects and in supporting victims, have been identified as factors related to future violation of protection orders. (If the police do not care, the guy thinks he can get away with his bad behavior again.)

- The probability of post-protection order abuse is lower if the abuser is arrested at the time of the incident that leads to the protection order. (Guy knows that what he did was serious.)

- Women who report that they need more protective measures in their orders are more likely to report future serious violence and psychological abuse.