Protective Orders (Criminal)

A Protective Order is made by a criminal court judge against a person who was arrested for stalking or a family crime. This order tells your partner not to hit you, harass you, contact your children, come to your home, come to your place of employment, any combination of these, or any other protection the judge thinks is appropriate.

The protective order will last until the end of the criminal court case, unless the judge has ended the protective order before then. The specific conditions of the protective order can be modified or changed by the judge at any time. Only a judge can change the order.

A protective order may not help you if your partner does care about breaking the law or following a court order. It is possible that your partner will not care about the protective order and that you will continue to be hurt even if you have a protective order. Click here to see a sample protective order.

For more information on protective orders, refer to the Guide to Connecticut’s Family Violence Laws.

If you think your partner may not obey the order then you may want to call your local domestic violence program to help you identify other ways to keep you safe.