Are CT restraining orders only issued if there is physical violence?

In Connecticut, restraining orders are not only granted in domestic violence cases that involve physical violence or injury. In 2021, lawmakers passed “Jennifer’s Law,” which expanded the definition of domestic violence or abuse to include “coercive control.”

The law is named after Jennifer Farber Dulos and Jennifer Magnano, women who were killed by their domestic partners.

The law defines coercive control as “a pattern of behavior that in purpose or effect unreasonably interferes with a person’s free will and personal liberty.” Coercive control includes patterns or history of verbal threats, forced isolation, stalking, cyberstalking, and financial restraint and control. 

Jennifer’s Law also made criminal violations of a protection order a “family violence crime” in certain scenarios. Protective orders in Connecticut are meant to protect people who are not family and do not live with the person they are filing the complaint against.