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

• Published in: Social work (New York) Vol. 55; no. 4; pp. 359 - 368
• Main Author: Zosky, Diane L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Oxford University Press 01.10.2010; NASW PRESS; National Association of Social Workers (NASW)
• Subjects: accountability; Administration of criminal justice; Administration of juvenile justice; Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult; Adults; Analysis; Comparative Analysis; Courtship; Crime Victims; Criminal Justice; Criminal justice system; Criminal justice, Administration of; Criminal Law - legislation & jurisprudence; Criminal prosecution; Criminals; Dating (Social); Dating violence; Delinquency; Delinquency Prevention; Delinquent Rehabilitation; Domestic violence; Domestic Violence - legislation & jurisprudence; Family Violence; Female; Gender violence; Humans; Ideologies; Ideology; Interpersonal Relations; Intimate partner violence; Juvenile Courts; Juvenile delinquency; Juvenile Justice; Juvenile justice system; Juvenile justice, Administration of; Male; policy; Public Policy; Rehabilitation; Risk Factors; Sexual violence; Social dating; Social Justice; teenagers; Violence; Violence against women; Violent crimes; Young adults; Zero tolerance; Zero Tolerance Policy; United States; domestic violence; teenagers; accountability; juvenile justice; policy
• ISSN: 0037-8046; 1545-6846
• DOI: 10.1093/sw/55.4.359

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.