Restraining orders help keep people free from harassment, violence, property damage and intimidation without having to necessarily press criminal charges or pursue traditional means of enforcing criminal law (e.g. jail or prison time for the convicted defendant). 

Restraining orders might not be connected to any actual criminal charges. An acrimonious divorce or some incidences of emotional abuse may leave a person in a situation without legal recourse against their antagonist. Restraining orders can be a useful stopgap measure which doesn’t entail the escalation that pursuing legal charges would. 

Nevertheless, restraining order can and are frequently attached to criminal charges. Crimes which may prompt a filing for a restraining order are enumerated in N.J.S.A 2C§19-3 include: 

1. homicide
2. assault
3. terroristic threats
4. kidnapping
5. criminal restraint
6. false imprisonment
7. sexual assault
8. criminal sexual contact
9. lewdness
10. criminal mischief
11. burglary
12. criminal trespass
13. harassment
14. cyberharassment
15. stalking
16. criminal coercion
17. robbery
18. contempt of a domestic violence order, which constitutes a crime or disorderly persons offense or
19. any other crime involving risk of death or serious bodily injury.

Any of these crimes fall under the heading of domestic violence when the victim and perpetrator have a relationship. This is one of the most common reasons for a restraining order to be filed. In some cases, a restraining order hearing is automatically filed unless otherwise specified by the complainant, such as after a stalking conviction. 

Not all restraining order fall under this heading, such as sexual crimes that are not perpetrated by an intimate partner. This form of restraining order is called a sexual assault protective order. Sexual harassment, sexual assault and lewdness are all crimes which qualify the defendant from pursuing this form of restraining order. It is a civil, rather than criminal complaint. 

There are other, less common, reasons to seek a restraining order, such as to prevent financial loss. In some cases of divorce one party may spend money recklessly as a way of harming the financial well-being of the other party before the divorce settlement is finalized. Restraining orders can stipulate that this behavior cease. Another possibility in a similar category is trademark or patent infringement. In the context of a lawsuit over a patent or trademark a restraining order can be used to prevent the continued use of the intellectual property while the lawsuit continues forward. Restraining orders can function like cease and desist orders in this scenario.