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Legal Information: Ohio

Restraining Orders

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Updated: 
July 12, 2023

What are the definitions of stalking and sexually oriented offenses?

To get an SSOOPO, you must show that the abuser (known as the “respondent” in court) has committed acts that would come under the crime of menacing by stalking or that the respondent committed a sexually oriented offense against you. It does not matter if the respondent was ever charged with either of these crimes or not. It only matters that s/he has committed one of the acts described in these crimes.1

You can read the definition of menacing by stalking on our Selected Ohio Statutes page (see sections (A)(1) and (A)(2)).

The definition of a sexually oriented offense is when someone commits or attempts to commit an act that comes under one of these crimes even if the person was not arrested for it:

1 Ohio Rev. Code § 2903.214(C)(1)
2 Ohio Rev. Code § 2950.01(A)