Restraining Orders

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:

• rape;
• sexual battery;
• unlawful sexual contact with a minor (see the statute sections (A)(2) and (3) for certain conditions regarding the age difference of the victim and offender);
• gross sexual imposition;
• sexual imposition;
• importuning (soliciting a minor for sexual activity);
• voyeurism (deals with secretly videotaping sexual acts or similar actions);
• compelling prostitution;
• promoting prostitution;
• pandering obscenity;
• pandering obscenity involving a minor;
• illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance;
• felonious assault when committed with a sexual motivation; and
• committing menacing by stalking with a sexual motivation.²
• Note: There are additional acts involving human trafficking, murder, manslaughter, kidnapping and other crimes when sexually motivated, which we have not included in the above list; to read these, see sections (A)(4),(7)-(11) of the law.

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