Domestic Violence - Adolescent Offenders

Children are at risk for being victimized by domestic violence as well as later being the perpetrators of it against others. This program examines both theory of child abuse and consequences of child abuse as we focus on violence in the family and its later influences on juvenile behaviors.

Multidimensional theories have surfaced to address the confusion left by earlier criminological theories. With the expansion of new theoretical approaches comes even more confusion about what works and what does not work. We know children experience similar symptoms to abuse that adults do. What differs is their ability to verbalize the pain they feel Often this is due to their fear they will lose their caregiver. Children may have much the same feelings as adults even within the same home about what is happening but they have not developed skills to understand the situations they witness and do not know how to deal with their feelings. As a result, tehse children who witnessed violence or experienced abuse may then learn violent behavior as the result of their immature perceptions of the world around them. They may also learn to justify violent behavior as appropriate.

Until a short time ago, we tended to dismiss or ignore concerns about juvenile violence until it grew to its present proprotions and lethality. Juvenile crime is a major social concern and family violence perpetrated against siblings and parents are still under researched. 

This is a public affairs presentation of the American Public Safety Training Institute at www.tapsti.org