PORTLAND - Advocates for domestic-violence victims say a restraining order by itself can't stop an abusive partner bent on doing harm, but it can be a deterrent.
"It puts people on notice, and that function is inherently valuable," said Circuit Judge Maureen McKnight, who hears applications for restraining orders in Multnomah County.
Seven women in the Portland area and Oregon have been killed or seriously injured in domestic violence shootings in the past month.
One had secured a restraining order against her boyfriend and then dropped it. Another had talked to the police about a restraining order less than a week before her ex-boyfriend shot her. Yet another had gotten an order the morning before her husband shot her.
More than a dozen reports in the past 10 years show that restraining orders can reduce violence, The Oregonian newspaper reported.
A 2004 study at the University of Washington, for example, found that women who had restraining orders "were significantly less likely than those who did not to be contacted by the abuser, to experience injury or weapons threats and to receive abuse-related medical care."
Advocates say restraining orders have to be a part of a sweeping plan to keep a woman and her children safe.
"The real truth of it is that there are many factors in play here, and if you don't have a safe place to spend the night, a restraining order isn't going to help you with that," said Sybil Hebb, a lawyer for the Oregon Law Center.
In some cases, said Amy Holmes Hehn, Multnomah County's senior domestic-violence prosecutor, obtaining an order could make matters worse.
"The victim is the best judge of her own safety," Holmes Hehn said. "Some offenders are upset by restraining orders and consider them an incitement because their power and control is thwarted."
Oregon law allows restraining orders against a spouse, former spouse, an adult relative by blood, marriage or adoption, a person previously or currently living with the applicant, or the other parent of the applicant's child.
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