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This document is for courts and process servers considering Electronic Service (eService) for civil protection orders (CPOs). It outlines the key considerations for selecting, designing, and evaluating an eService platform for CPOs. These include user experience, reliability of service, platform stability, authentication and security controls, integration capabilities, information security requirements, cultural and operational barriers, and the essential role of law enforcement in certain service scenarios.

La tecnología está evolucionando rápidamente y las herramientas de inteligencia artificial (IA) están comenzando a formar parte de cada vez más experiencias cotidianas. Si bien la IA tiene el potencial de ahorrar tiempo y ampliar el acceso a recursos, estas mismas herramientas también pueden implicar riesgos graves para su seguridad, privacidad y confianza, especialmente si usted ha sido víctima de violencia doméstica, agresión sexual, acoso, abuso facilitado por la tecnología u otras formas de trauma. Algunas herramientas de IA pueden ofrecer consejos o consuelo que parecen humanos, pero que en realidad resultan engañosos o inseguros, y la mayoría almacena discretamente, y en algunos casos incluso comparte lo que usted les dice.

En la Red Nacional para Acabar con la Violencia Doméstica (NNEDV, por sus siglas en inglés), creemos que las personas sobrevivientes merecen contar con información clara y confiable sobre cómo funcionan las herramientas de inteligencia artificial, qué riesgos implican y qué opciones pueden existir para las personas sobrevivientes y sus seres queridos, quienes utilizan estas tecnologías. Esta guía se ha creado para ayudarle a tomar decisiones informadas y seguras sobre si desea utilizar o no la inteligencia artificial y cómo hacerlo según sus propias condiciones.

Technology is evolving quickly, and artificial intelligence (AI) tools are becoming part of more and more everyday experiences. While AI does have the potential to save time and expand access to resources, these same tools can also introduce serious safety, privacy, and trust risks, especially for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, technology-facilitated abuse, and other forms of trauma. Some AI tools may offer advice or comfort that sounds human, but is actually misleading or unsafe, and most of them quietly store–and sometimes even share–what you tell them.

At the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), we believe survivors deserve clear, trustworthy information about how AI tools work, what risks they carry, and what options may exist for survivors and their loved ones who engage with these technologies. This guide was created to support you in making informed, confident choices about if or how you use AI, on your own terms.

Las herramientas de inteligencia artificial (IA) están empezando a formar parte de casi todas las profesiones, y los servicios para víctimas no son la excepción. Aunque la IA puede ayudar a ahorrar tiempo y facilitar el acceso a recursos, también puede representar riesgos serios para la seguridad, la privacidad y la confianza, sobre todo cuando se trabaja con personas sobrevivientes de violencia doméstica, agresión sexual, acoso, abuso facilitado por la tecnología y otras experiencias traumáticas.

Esta guía fue creada para ofrecer orientación práctica y apoyar a quienes brindan servicios a víctimas (VSP, por sus siglas en inglés) y a otras personas defensoras en la toma de decisiones informadas y coherentes con su misión sobre si usar o no herramientas de IA en el contexto de los servicios a víctimas y cómo hacerlo.

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are becoming embedded in nearly every profession, and victim services are no exception. While AI does have the potential to save time and expand access to resources, these same tools can also introduce serious safety, privacy, and trust risks, especially when working with survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, technology-facilitated abuse, and other forms of trauma.

This guide is designed to share practical guidance and help victim service providers (VSPs) and other advocates make informed, mission-aligned decisions about whether and how to use AI tools in the context of victim services.

Attorneys who work on cases involving domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking (DVSAS) face a disproportionate amount of threatened and actual violence compared to attorneys who practice in other fields. We created the Attorney Safety Guide to provide civil attorneys who represent survivors of DVSAS, as well as leadership at legal services organizations serving DVSAS survivors, with information and resources to help them preempt and address safety concerns often affecting attorneys in the field.

Because protection orders can be the basis by which someone is ineligible to receive a firearm, a National Instant Criminal Background Check relies on state, local and tribal court protection order information. Generally, protection order information can be entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Protection Order Files (POF) and/or the NICS Indices. The easiest way to ensure that the proper information is uploaded from state, tribal and local justice system databases into federal databases that are used to conduct background checks is to develop a summary information form or cover sheet that includes all of the information needed for NICS to run a firearms-related background check and is completed at the time the related protection order is issued. This resource details all of the information that a summary information form would need to include and provides a sample form.

Because misdemeanor convictions for crimes of domestic and dating violence can be the basis by which someone is prohibited from receiving a firearm, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System at the FBI relies on state, local and tribal court criminal records information. Generally, information about convictions for misdemeanor crimes of domestic and dating violence can be entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), the Interstate Identification Index (III), and/or the NICS Indices. The easiest way to ensure that the proper information is uploaded from state, Tribal and local justice system databases into federal databases that are used to conduct background checks is to develop a summary information form or cover sheet that includes all of the information needed for NICS to run a firearms-related background check and is completed at the time the conviction is entered. This resource identifies the information that should be included in such a cover sheet and provides a sample.

In June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal law that prohibits domestic abusers subject to protection orders from possessing firearms.

This technical assistance bulletin answers frequently asked questions about the Court’s opinion and practical considerations for judges, lawyers, advocates and others whose work involves supporting survivors and/or the issuance and enforcement of domestic violence protection orders.