Law Commons^™

The False Promise Of Custody In Domestic Violence Protection Orders, Laurie S. Kohn

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This Article reveals the disconnect between the power and the will to enforce the custody and parenting time provisions of protection orders through criminal mechanisms and explores the further infirmity of civil enforcement by illustrating the shortcomings of available relief. Together, these barriers to effective enforcement threaten to render this court-granted protection meaningless and dangerously misleading. The barriers also undermine the many years of advocacy invested to secure these protections in the first place - reforms aimed at protecting victims and children from abusive parents.

This Article explores ways to bring together the will and the power to enforce all …