Accountability in Teenage Dating Violence: A Comparative Examination of Adult Domestic Violence and Juvenile Justice Systems Policies (Essay‪)‬

The adult criminal justice system's domestic violence policies hold perpetrators accountable for their violence, but the juvenile justice system rarely addresses teenage dating violence (Buel, 2003).With the emergence of domestic violence as a major social problem, institutions in society responded with policies and services designed for prevention of and intervention around this issue. Domestic violence policies and laws were enacted at the federal and state levels; services for victims and, later, perpetrators, were developed; and an explosion of research sought to explore, understand, and evaluate the issue of domestic violence and the subsequent responses. The expansive interest in intimate partner violence (IPV), although warranted, has remained largely focused on this issue with adult victims and perpetrators (Hickman, Jaycox, & Aronoff, 2004). Teenage dating violence is a significant yet often overlooked issue within youth culture and the broader society (Sanders, 2003). Rates of adolescent dating violence vary across studies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducts one of the largest studies on risk behavior with the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. This system surveys a variety of risk behaviors in youths in grades 7 through 12 and includes questions about perpetration and victimization of physical and sexual violence. Data collected from 2007 indicate that 9.9 percent of youths identified as victims of physical adolescent dating violence during the previous 12 months (CDC, 2008). The prevalence was higher among boys (11 percent) than girls (8.8 percent).