NCJ Number
179125
Journal
Youth Law News Volume: 20 Issue: 3 Dated: May-June 1999 Pages: 1-6
Date Published
1999
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Dating violence among adolescents is examined, with emphasis on its nature and extent and the limitations of the remedies used for domestic assault involving adults and children.
Abstract
Abuse by an intimate partner is estimated to occur in 1 of every 10 dating relationships among adolescents; the vast majority of victims are females. However, the dynamics of abuse and battering of adolescents have received little attention. In addition, adolescents lack access to the remedies and protections available to adults, although the incidence and patterns are similar to those of adult domestic violence. These remedies include civil restraining orders, criminal remedies, and emergency shelter. Moreover, adolescents seeking protection through the child welfare system are disadvantaged both by their age and by the reality that their abusers are outside their families of origin. An underlying problem is society's confusion about whether teenage females are children or adults. The confusion is multiplied when the adolescent females are parents themselves. In addition, laws and policies exclude adolescents either explicitly or by oversight. A third factor is that existing government funding streams that are based on problems rather than people make it difficult to create comprehensive programs that meet the real-life needs of their beneficiaries. The circumstances experienced by teenage victims of domestic assault are an example of the results of focusing law and policy on either children or adults, to the exclusion of adolescents. Photographs and footnotes