Types of New York City Protective Orders
In the New York criminal system, the correct way to refer to a protective order is by referring to it as an order of protection, but it gets called a number of different names. It is called an order of protection, a protective order, or a restraining order. There is a separate protective order used in a different context, which refers to whether or not certain evidence can be disclosed to certain other parties. But for the purposes of domestic violence and related issues, a protective order is synonymous with an order of protection.
An order of protection is a document signed by a judge that commands a defendant to refrain from taking certain actions. It is a negative order, meaning it instructs a person as to what they cannot do, rather than what they must do. There are different types of New York City protective orders depending on the facts of a person’s case. If you want to know more about the different orders of protection that exist, consult a knowledgeable protective order lawyer today.
What an Order of Protection Looks Like
The order of protection will have a number of check-boxes for what the defendant is prohibited from doing. In a civil case, the person is referred to as the respondent, not the defendant, but it is substantially the same. Different types of New York City protective orders will have different boxes checked depending on whether someone has a full or limited order of protection.
Limited Orders of Protection
Among the different types of New York City protective orders, there are full or limited orders of protection. A limited order will prohibit basic illegal actions like assaulting, stalking, menacing, or threatening. It will not prohibit general communication, general visitation, or have any effect on living situations.
The parties can live together, go to social events together, and communicate freely. They can have dinner together, and it is not a violation of the order unless something happens where the defendant assaults, menaces, or threatens the complainant while there. They cannot do anything that they are not legally allowed to do anyway.
In essence, under a limited order, the two people can coexist in the exact way they were prior to the incident that led to the arrest, they can live together, go to social events together, and communicate as frequently as they wish, and the defendant is only required to refrain from actions which could constitute crimes, and are thus prohibited by the penal law anyway.
Full Orders of Protection
A full order of protection prohibits the defendant from initiating any contact or communication with the complainant in the case. That means the defendant cannot go to the person’s home or to their place of work. The defendant is also restricted from calling, emailing, texting, social media posting, or initiating any sort of communication with the person who has the order against them. They also cannot attempt to contact the person via a third party. In a full order of protection, simply put, the defendant cannot have any sort of contact whatsoever with the complainant or have other people contact them on their behalf.
Duration of a Protective Order
The duration of a protective order depends on how the case ends. During dependency of the case, the orders of protection will generally last from one appearance until the next. If a person is convicted of, for example, an A misdemeanor, the order of protection will last for a period of three years. A person convicted of a B misdemeanor will be subject to an order of protection that would last two years. A person convicted of a violation, not a crime, will have an order of protection against them for a period of one year from the conviction date. Depending on what the final case outcome is, it will drive what the final order of protection time period will be. In order to learn more about types of New York City protective orders and the impact that a protective order can have on you, consult an adept order of protection lawyer today.