While some protective orders have existed statutorily in Illinois for at least a decade and hearing and issuing these types of protective orders has become part of the normal course of business in most courthouses, in 2017, the Illinois legislature passed House Bill 3718, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2018, creating a new statutory framework for issuing protective orders in conjunction with criminal charges.

Criminal protective orders are relatively new to Illinois, and their use and enforcement is, at times, controversial, writes Benjamin Lawson in his January Illinois Bar Journal article, “Criminal Protective Orders: A Practitioner’s Guide.” Such “orders represent a strengthening of victims’ rights, but their implementation can significantly affect criminal cases and pending divorce cases,” Lawson writes. He goes on to break down how Illinois’ protective order statute works and how it might affect your clients. 

Read the article Criminal Protective Orders: A Practitioner’s Guide in the January issue of the Illinois Bar Journal.