Once considered a private family matter best left behind closed doors, domestic violence is now recognized as a crime with specific, albeit sometimes controversial, legal and social remedies. Battered women’s shelters and programs offer immediate sanctuary and temporary protection for women who leave their abusers. Often, however, just getting away is not enough. Many experts—social scientists and battered women’s advocates as well as those in law enforcement—agree that a restraining order (RO) or abuse protection order (APO) is an abused woman’s best defense against her abuser. A restraining order is a legal document that limits a man’s physical proximity to his alleged victim and also restricts his contact with her by telephone, mail, or e-mail.

Abused women and their advocates insist that ROs offer necessary protection...