Publication Date
Summer 2025
Abstract
Survivors of intimate partner violence should not face further abuse at the hands of the state, let alone by a tool that is meant to protect them. This Note examines how orders of protections issued by family courts during child abuse and neglect proceedings fail survivors of violence and criminalize individuals in civil courtrooms. This research examines how orders of protection do not always afford individuals due process, despite depriving many of their individual autonomy and the right to parent. Orders of protection are just one example of how family courts punitively surveil marginalized communities, creating irreparable harm under the guise of being an essential civil service necessary to keep communities and families safe. Instead, violations of orders are used against survivors in their family court cases, damaging family bonds and discrediting survivors’ insights into their own experiences. This Note begs its reader to think more deeply about the concept of safety and protection in a system that is meant to guard the interests of some at the expense of others. It implores the reader to shift their focus to the stories of survivors, especially those whose voices and experiences have been too long left out of the conversation and who cry for abolition and reparation as a response to violence.
Recommended Citation
Talia Gallo, Note, Family Court Orders of Ostensible "Protection": Silencing Survivors and Criminalizing Conduct in Civil Courtrooms, 28 CUNY L. Rev. 325 (2025).