The Abuse Protection statute in Massachusetts  M.G.L. c. 209A , often referred to as a restraining order, includes provision relating to out of state orders.   Under section 5A , "any protection order issued by another jurisdiction, as defined in section one, shall be given full faith and credit throughout the commonwealth and enforced as if it were issued in the commonwealth for as long as the order is in effect in the issuing jurisdiction." In a recent case, a Defendant raised on appeal the question of whose law applies when an out-of-state order is violated in Massachusetts: the law of the issuing state, or the law of the state where the order was violated? In Commonwealth v. Shea SJC-11412 (2014) , the defendant who lived in Weymouth applied for a restraining order in the Quincy District Court against the victim who already had a restraining order against the defendant in NH.  This forced the victim to attend the hearing in Quincy District Court where, after hav...

In 1994, the United States Congress enacted the Violence Against Women Act, which was the first U.S. federal legislation criminalizing domestic violence and sexual assault, and assigned federal resources to combat violence against women on a community level.  It was reauthorized in 2000, and again in 2005 ( read the text of the 2005 version ).  The 2005 version which recently expired, also addressed dating violence and stalking, expanded services to include children and teenagers, and established funding for rape crisis centers. Since this legislation was recently allowed to expire by Congress, it's important that you know what we are losing and why it was allowed to expire.  If after reading about the benefits of this Act and the reasoning for letting it expire you think Congress made a mistake by not renewing the Violence Against Women Act, then we encourage you to contact your representatives and tell them your opinion. The Violence Against Women Act -...