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The civil restraining order application process

Textually mediated institutional case management

University of Victoria, BC, Canada, jill.adams{at}gov.bc.ca, jilladams{at}shaw.ca

Although the civil restraining order is the most commonly sought legal initiative to combat intimate partner violence in British Columbia (BC), no known qualitative research has assessed the application process, and previous quantitative research presents mixed findings. Using interviews, observations, and textual analyses, this institutional ethnography critically analyzes the civil restraining order application process in the BC Provincial Court. Particular attention is paid to disjunctures between abused women's experiential knowledge and what becomes formally known to practitioners who manage their cases. Findings unveil that abused women's lived experience with violence is transformed and shaped into accounts in which their safety needs disappear. Court practitioners become immersed in textually mediated activity within a legal ruling apparatus that emphasizes timely completion of a large quantity of cases, with little or no commitment to quality solutions.

Key Words: restraining order • protection order • application • institutional ethnography • family violence • domestic abuse • British Columbia (BC) • civil court

Ethnography, Vol. 10, No. 2, 185-211 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1466138108099591


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