EDITORIAL: Lifelong restraining orders a good step to protect victims
May 8—The Missouri Legislature has passed a bill that would allow judges to issue lifelong restraining orders.
Currently, orders of protection in the state are limited to one year at most. After that, victims have to go back to court to get an extension.
Under the bill, judges have the option to grant restraining orders for longer lengths of time depending on the potential threat, and the orders could be programmed to be automatically renewed. The person with the restraining order against them would have to prove that they have been rehabilitated and are no longer a threat in order for the protection orders to be lifted early.
Restraining orders are far from a perfect solution to the threat of domestic violence, but this legislation is a step in the right direction. It's not punitive to restrict someone from having contact with another person when they have demonstrated such dangerous behavior that a restraining order is necessary in the first place, and a lifelong order could be the difference between life and death for some victims.
As examples: April Lee Logan, a 22-year-old Virginia woman, was allegedly shot to death by her boyfriend in August last year in what appeared to be a domestic violence incident less than a week after a two-year protection order expired. Hollywood therapist Amie Harwick, 38, was found unresponsive under the third-floor balcony of her home in February last year. An ex-boyfriend was charged with her murder; alleging physical abuse, Harwick had filed for restraining orders against him twice, with the last one expiring in 2015.
Could they have been saved if they had the option of a lifelong restraining order against their alleged killers? We will never know for sure, but giving victims one more tool in their toolbox to escape violence increases the likelihood that they will be successful in doing so.
The Missouri bill also would allow orders of protection to cover pets. Republican bill sponsor Sen. Elaine Gannon said that provision would be a tool against people who might threaten someone's pet as a way to emotionally hurt its owner.
This is a much-needed measure because pets are often the first — and silent — victims in domestic violence incidents. Research has shown that between 71% and 83% of women entering domestic violence shelters reported that their partners also abused or killed the family pet, and another study found that in families under supervision for physical abuse of their children, pet abuse was concurrent in 88% of the families, according to the Humane Society of the United States.
The bill only needs Gov. Mike Parson's signature to become law. It should be signed swiftly and implemented forcefully.
