Effects of Court-Issued Restricted Contact Orders on Perceived Social Support of Individuals Involved in Sexually Violent Offenses

Abstract

Due to their nature, court-issued restricted contact orders (consisting of orders that prohibit or limit contact between two or more persons) cause individuals named in such orders to experience disruption in their established social networks. The empirical literature highlights the disruptive element in social support networks as well as the harmful psychological outcomes for individuals who have been threatened or violated in intimate partner violence (IPV), domestic violence (DV), or sexual violence (SV) [1-3]. Another disruptive outcome of IPV, DV, and SV includes restricted court orders (RCOs). These orders that limit contact and communication between those who have offended and those who have been offended are thus, disruptive to social support networks especially when the parties involved are family members or otherwise intimately connected others. This disruption in social support may prevent needed resources for healing for those who have been offended by violence and those who have committed violent offenses. No literature exists that examines the potentially disruptive effects RCOs may have on the necessary social support systems (and changes in levels of perceived social support) of individuals who have violently offended or have been violently offended. This paper aims to add to the literature on the question of social support disruption in such cases, and to provide recommendations to mitigate support system interference for named parties in RCOs.