June 2007

The Mandatory Order for Protection: A Tool for Client Safety

by Justice Barbara Madsen and Gloria Hemmen

Washington has joined a national movement, “Project Passport,” aimed at ensuring safety for victims of domestic violence who cross jurisdictional lines. This project enhances the likelihood that Domestic Violence Orders of Protection will be recognized and enforced across state, county, and tribal lines through adopting a model first-page template (model template). In June 2005, after a year of work by a team composed of attorney, court, domestic-violence advocate, and law-enforcement volunteers, the revised Washington State Domestic Violence Order for Protection (ORPRT, WPF DV-3.015) 1 was distributed to presiding judges, county clerks, court administrators, and prosecuting attorneys, and posted on the Washington Courts website.2 To underscore the importance of “Project Passport,” Chief Justice Gerry Alexander and Justice Barbara Madsen, as chair of the Supreme Court’s Gender and Justice Commission, issued a memo reminding all parties receiving the new form that:

Chapter 26.50 RCW protection order forms and the domestic relations forms are mandatory pattern forms pursuant to RCW 26.50.035 and RCW 26.18.220, respectively. You are encouraged to use these new forms immediately.

The changes incorporated in the chapter 26.50 RCW Order for Protection clarify when the order restricts the restrained person’s right to possess firearms or ammunition under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8). The order’s first page is adapted from a national template designed to facilitate recognition and enforcement of the order for protection in other jurisdictions.

Use of these model orders is critical to achieve the goals of “Project Passport”: consistency, enforceability, and safety. Every Order for Protection entered in Washington state courts should be on the most current form to ensure the success of the project.

Consistency

The revised Order for Protection includes a “recognizable” first page with data elements and formatting consistent with a national effort to improve the enforcement of protection orders within and across state and tribal boundaries.

The National Center for State Courts and the National Center on Full Faith and Credit sponsored regional meetings across the country to introduce the model template to states, territories, and Indian tribes. Thirty-two states have adopted or are considering adopting the model template. In the West, Alaska, California, Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, and Washington have adopted or adapted the model template with the goal of keeping key data elements consistent.

A growing number of tribes have also adopted, or are considering, the model template for their tribal protection orders. Tribes in Alabama, California, Montana, Oklahoma, and Washington have adopted the model template. Tribes in Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming are considering its adoption. The National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA) fully supports this initiative.3

Enforceability

The first page includes elements that will help law enforcement immediately identify the order as a protection order enforceable by any state or tribe:

• the parties’ dates of birth
• a bold box highlighting respondent identifiers
• qualifying full faith and credit federal language
• check boxes to indicate that the order includes restraints against acts of abuse or no-contact provisions
• the order’s effective date

Safety

The majority of domestic-violence homicides in Washington state have been committed with firearms. Since 1997, abusers have used firearms to kill 200 domestic-violence homicide victims. Between July 1, 2004, and June 30, 2006, abusers used firearms to kill 40 homicide victims.4

Improving safety by clarifying when firearms are restricted under federal law is a goal of the revised protection order forms. The first page of the Order for Protection includes qualifying federal notice provisions and checkboxes relating to the parties’ relationship. On the second page, the first provision is a restraint against “causing physical harm, bodily injury, assault, including sexual assault, and from molesting, harassing, threatening, or stalking.” With the notice provision, a check box for “spouse or former spouse,” “parent of a common child,” or “current or former cohabitant as intimate partner” checked, and the first restraint provision on the second page checked, the order qualifies for federal firearm restrictions in accordance with 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8). This information enables timely and accurate entry of federal firearm restrictions into the National Crime Information Center Protection Order File (NCIC). Accurate NCIC data informs law enforcement and persons requesting criminal background checks that an individual is subject to federal firearms restrictions and is disqualified from possessing and purchasing a firearm or ammunition.5

The safety of domestic-violence victims is important to all of us. The Gender and Justice Commission encourages every attorney who has a client seeking a Domestic Violence Order for Protection to ensure that the order is on the most current form. Check the Washington Courts website for the form that was designed to improve consistency, enforceability, and safety. 

Justice Barbara Madsen is the third woman to be elected to a seat on the bench of the Washington State Supreme Court and chair of the Supreme Court’s Gender and Justice Commission. Gloria Hemmen is executive director of the Gender and Justice Commission.

NOTES
 1.  This article focuses on the civil domestic violence Order for Protection. In June 2005, similar changes were made to the mandatory Domestic Relations pattern form restraining orders and to the Domestic Violence No-Contact Orders.
 2.  Forms published by the Administrative Office of the Courts and the Washington Pattern Forms Committee are located on the Washington Courts website at www.courts.wa.gov/forms.  Forms may be updated annually, so attorneys and courts are requested to check the website for the most current version.
 3.  Denise O. Dancy, Project Director, “Extending Project Passport: Genesis and Goals of the Project,” National Center for State Courts, www.ncsconline.org/D_research/Passport/Revised_Passport_Project_Desciption_7_051.pdf.
 4.  Kelly Starr & Jake Fawcett, If I had One More Day…, Findings and Recommendations from the Washington State Domestic Violence Fatality Review, December 2006, 29 (Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 2006); www.wscadv.org/projects/FR/index.htm, www.wscadv.org.
 5.  18 U.S.C. § 922(d)(8) and (g)(8).