The Disproportionate Effect of Mutual Restraining Orders on Same-Sex Domestic Violence Victims

Abstract

This Note will discuss how the erasure of LGBT victims from the domestic violence narrative has perpetuated the overuse of dual arrest and mutual restraining orders in domestic violence cases with samesex couples despite the minimal use of these legal tools in the general population. Both the social narrative of domestic violence as well as homophobia and misinformation have contributed to exclude LGBT victims from increasingly mainstream knowledge about domestic violence. These factors have informed law enforcement statutes and policies that increase the likelihood that LGBT domestic violence victims will be subject to unfair arrest, legal restraint, and a myriad of collateral consequences. This Note suggests that remedying this disparate treatment can begin with the creation of laws and policies that emphasize reasoned deliberation for both police officers and judges when faced with LGBT victims.