Every year, the Texas legislature and the federal government pass new laws, and in many cases, these laws go into effect on January 1 of the following year. Keeping abreast of changes to the law is not always easy, but in some cases, it can be important to understand how these changes may affect the lives of regular people. One law that recently went into effect involved the Protective Order Registry of Texas (PROTECT), which is a database of orders of protection that are issued in cases involving domestic violence and some other types of crimes.
What Is the Protective Order Registry of Texas?
In 2019, the Texas legislature passed a bill known as "Monica's Law," which was named after a woman who was murdered by an ex-boyfriend. In this case, the ex-boyfriend had a history of domestic abuse, and he had previously had protective orders issued against him. However, law enforcement officials in the county where the murder occurred did not have access to information about the previous protective orders, and they did not respond appropriately to help prevent violence from occurring.
In response to this issue, Monica's Law created a registry of protective orders that have been issued in the state of Texas. This registry is maintained by the Texas Office of Court Administration, and there are a variety of different types of protective orders that must be entered into the system. These include temporary "ex parte" protective orders, final protective orders issued by a court, magistrate's orders for emergency protection, and even applications for protective orders. Law enforcement officials and others involved in the criminal justice system can access this registry, including police officers, prosecutors, and court clerks. The general public has limited access to the registry, and information about a particular order will only be available if the victim in the case has given authorization.
...