Adolescent family and dating violence and the criminal law response Heather Douglas and Tamara Walsh
By: Douglas, Heather.
Contributor(s): Walsh, Tamara.
Material type: ArticleSeries: Journal of Family Violence.Publisher: Springer, 2022Subject(s): ADOLESCENTS | DATING VIOLENCE | FAMILY VIOLENCE | INDIGENOUS PEOPLES | IWI TAKETAKE | INTERVENTION | INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE | PARENTAL ABUSE | PERPETRATORS | PROTECTION ORDERS | SIBLING ABUSE | YOUNG PEOPLE | AUSTRALIA | INTERNATIONALOnline resources: DOI: 10.1007/s10896-022-00373-x (Open access) In: Journal of Family Violence, 2022, First published online, 1 March 2022Summary: The criminal law response to adolescent family and dating violence is understudied in Australia. The aim of the present study was to examine the charges and sentences adolescents face when they perpetrate acts of violence against family members or intimate partners, and to better understand the personal circumstances of these adolescents, including whether they have been diagnosed with a mental illness, whether they have a criminal history and whether they have been subject to child protection interventions. We undertook a two stage study analyzing unpublished statistical data and case files held by the Youth Justice department in Queensland, Australia. We found that the most commonly charged offence was contravention of a family violence protection order in the context of adolescent dating violence. We found that many of the adolescents charged with adolescent family and dating violence related offences faced significant challenges and that Indigenous young people were significantly overrepresented in family violence related charges, especially for contraventions of a family violence protection order. Whilst criminal law responses are uncommon in parent–child and sibling violence contexts, family violence protection orders are over-utilized as a response to adolescent dating violence. Such orders when breached result in criminalization of the young person. Resources should to be (re)directed away from the criminal law system and into community-led, place-based initiatives that address the drivers of crime and incarceration. (Authors' abstract). Record #7570Item type | Current location | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode |
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Access online | Family Violence library | Online | Available | ON22030034 |
Journal of Family Violence, 2022, First published online, 1 March 2022
The criminal law response to adolescent family and dating violence is understudied in Australia. The aim of the present study was to examine the charges and sentences adolescents face when they perpetrate acts of violence against family members or intimate partners, and to better understand the personal circumstances of these adolescents, including whether they have been diagnosed with a mental illness, whether they have a criminal history and whether they have been subject to child protection interventions. We undertook a two stage study analyzing unpublished statistical data and case files held by the Youth Justice department in Queensland, Australia. We found that the most commonly charged offence was contravention of a family violence protection order in the context of adolescent dating violence. We found that many of the adolescents charged with adolescent family and dating violence related offences faced significant challenges and that Indigenous young people were significantly overrepresented in family violence related charges, especially for contraventions of a family violence protection order. Whilst criminal law responses are uncommon in parent–child and sibling violence contexts, family violence protection orders are over-utilized as a response to adolescent dating violence. Such orders when breached result in criminalization of the young person. Resources should to be (re)directed away from the criminal law system and into community-led, place-based initiatives that address the drivers of crime and incarceration. (Authors' abstract). Record #7570