A woman who had a restraining order taken out against an ex-boyfriend was murdered by her ex-boyfriend at The University of Washington. As seems to be common, the murdering punk killed himself afterwards. TFS Magnum has the details (h/t View From The Porch).
Restraining orders work great against folks who don't intend to break the law. For those that wish to do someone harm violating a writ isn't something that bothers them too much. They're not any more effective at stopping a violent person than a box of tissues. What is effective is being aware of your surroundings, being determined to forcibly resist an attack & having the means to effectively do so. Unfortunately since the murder occurred at a college having an effective means of self defense was prohibited by law.
A long time ago I penned a post on how I thought an effective system of judicial protection should work. I still think it'd be a damn sight more effective than what we have currently.
Posted by Publicola at April 18, 2007 03:49 PM | TrackBack