Data came from interviews conducted with 285 female petitioners for protection orders approximately 1 month after they received a temporary or permanent protection order, follow-up interviews with 177 of these women about 6 months later, civil case records of these petitioners, and the criminal history records of the men named in the protection orders. Additional information came from interviews with judges, other court personnel, victim service representatives, police, and prosecutors and from observations of hearings. Results revealed that civil protection orders deterred repeated incidents of physical and psychological abuse in the vase majority of cases. In addition, the participants had experienced severe abuse prior to the protection orders. Moreover, the majority of the abusive partners had a criminal record. Furthermore, the criminal record was associated with improvements in well-being and in curbing abusive conduct. Temporary protection orders were also useful even if the victim did not obtain a permanent order. Results indicated that the full potential for comprehensive relief in protection orders has not yet been achieved. Findings demonstrated that the effectiveness of civil protection orders is inextricably linked to the quality of the system of government and community services and that issuing a protection order is only one part of the remedy. Additional findings, tables, and footnotes