Accountability in teenage dating violence: a comparative examination of adult domestic violence and juvenile justice systems policies.
Unlike in the adult criminal justice system, where domestic violence policies hold perpetrators accountable for their violence, the juvenile justice system rarely addresses teenage dating violence. Although the adult criminal justice system has pursued policies toward intimate partner violence grounded on a "zero tolerance" ideology, the juvenile justice system was originally founded on an ideology of "child saving" to rehabilitate youths and divert them from the justice system. The implication of policy disparity between the adult criminal justice system and the juvenile justice system may be one contributing reason why teenage dating violence has received a different societal response than adult domestic violence. This article, a comparative examination of juvenile justice and domestic violence policies, reveals very different histories, philosophies, and trajectories of policy development. Teenage dating violence may be "falling through the cracks" between two policy approaches. Perhaps the juvenile justice system could find a balanced approach to adopting the philosophy of zero tolerance or holding teenage perpetrators accountable for their choice to use violence, as the adult criminal justice system does, while at the same time maintaining the "rehabilitative" philosophy of the original juvenile justice policies.
School of Social Work, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790-4650, USA. dlzosky@ilstu.edu
Diane L
DL
Zosky
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003380:Courtship; D019548:Crime Victims; D003416:Criminal Law / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012935:Social Justice; D014754:Violence