'NO CONTACT' ORDERS
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There are two basic types of ‘no contact’ orders: ‘no contact’ as a condition of bond, and ‘no contact’ as a condition of a suspended sentence. For the first type of ‘no contact’ order, the defendant is allowed to be bonded out of jail on the condition that he stays away from the victim and has no contact with him/her. If s/he violates this order, his/her bond can be revoked and s/he can go back to jail until the date of the trial. For ‘no contact’ orders that are a condition of a suspended sentence, the defendant would have to have a conviction. As a result of the condition, s/he received some time in jail; the court does not make him serve all the time. Instead, s/he is allowed to stay out of jail only as long as s/he stays away from the victim and does not have contact with him/her. If the defendant violates this order, s/he can have the suspended time revoked, and the court will order him/her to serve the remainder of the jail sentence.             

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• It is almost always up to the victim to advise the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office or the Victim-Witness Assistance Program if a ‘no contact’ order has been violated.

• To revoke a bond, or suspended sentence, the Commonwealth has to initiate a Show Cause Proceeding; the defendant generally cannot simply be arrested. These proceedings may take days to weeks.

• Unfortunately, a ‘no contact’ order is never a guarantee that the defendant will abide by the court’s orders.