Citation

Horton AL, Simonidis KM, Simonidis LL. J. Fam. Violence 1987; 2(3): 265-279.

Affiliation

School of Social Work, Brigham Young University, 84602 Provo, Utah; California State University, 95819 Sacramento, California, USA

Copyright

(Copyright © 1987, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/BF00976544

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Since 1980 legal remedies for spouse abuse have been established in various forms in every state. Social service agencies and shelters currently encourage victims to utilize restraining orders which now carry criminal consequences for the batterer, yet little empirical data have been reported concerning their use. The present paper describes two research studies-one conducted in Dane County (Madison area), Wisconsin, the other in Sacramento County, California-that provide new helpful information for these referring agencies and offer findings which reflect which victims use these legal remedies, what their expectations are, and how satisfied the victims were with the results. A final section discusses implications for change or clarification in policy, process, and education on the use of these legal remedies.