Spotlight On: Domestic Violence As a Risk Factor for Juvenile Delinquency–Prevention Through Intervention

by Hope Fields1

Introduction

One of the first steps in designing a successful prevention program is to identify risk factors for juvenile delinquency. Exposure to domestic violence is finally being recognized as a key risk factor for juvenile crime. One study involving approximately 2,200 children showed that exposure to violence in the home was a significant factor in predicting a child’s violent behavior.2 By identifying children who are exposed to domestic violence at home, delinquency prevention programs can help these children before they enter the criminal justice system.

Understanding Domestic Violence

To fully comprehend the potential effects of domestic violence on children, it is necessary to understand some basic aspects of domestic violence itself. Perpetrators of domestic violence often establish control over one or more family members by creating an atmosphere of tension and fear.3 Abusers act out with physical violence, threats of violence, psychological abuse, and coercion.4 Violent episodes may be separated by periods of calm and remorse.5 Abusers may apologize for their actions and remain calm for a time. Victims are left only to wait and wonder when the next violent episode will occur. Typically, the violence becomes more severe with each incident.6

Additionally, it is important to understand that child abuse and maltreatment is a common companion to domestic abuse. Studies have shown a co-occurrence of child maltreatment in 30 to 60 percent of adult domestic violence cases.7

The Effects on Children Who Witness Domestic Violence

The pervasiveness of domestic violence makes it a crucial factor in juvenile delinquency prevention. While it is difficult to quantify the number of domestic violence incidents, due to underreporting, various studies have estimated that between 3.3 and 10 million children witness domestic violence every year.8 Children who are present when domestic violence occurs witness a range of behaviors from insults, humiliation, and hitting to choking, aggravated assaults, and homicides.9

Domestic violence can have a variety of effects on children who witness it. However, two main areas of concern appear to correspond directly with a child’s tendency to become delinquent. First, children may develop unhealthy attitudes and ideas about violence as a result of seeing violence committed by family members at home. Second, children of parents who are involved in violent domestic disputes are more likely to be neglected and receive insufficient stability and emotional support.

Children who witness violence between parents in the home often imitate the abusers’ violent strategies in dealing with others.10 This is perhaps the most direct link between domestic violence and children’s violent acts. Children will see that when their parents are in conflict the abuser chooses an approach of aggression and violence. Consequently, children learn that aggressors accomplish their goals with force and violence. Children may apply this lesson to their own lives and use aggression and violence to accomplish their own goals.

Not only do some children come to accept violence as part of their lives, but they may also use the violence that they witness at home to justify their own violent acts. For example, if a young boy witnesses his father use physical force against his mother, the boy may view such violence as part of his father’s role as a man or head of the family. If the child later uses violence against a woman, he may justify his behavior with his understanding that using violence makes him a man.

Children may also be neglected by parents who are involved in domestic violence. An abused parent frequently expends much time and energy appeasing the abuser and maintaining the calm between the storms.11 This leaves less energy and time for their children.12 Abused parents may also fail to respond to their children’s concerns and fears about violence due to their own fears.13

Children who are neglected can have behavioral problems such as “begging for or stealing food and eating inappropriate objects; erratic school attendance; poor social relationships with peers; and delinquent acts such as vandalism, drug use and drinking.”14 Neglected children may also express anger through behavior problems, aggression toward others, and sexually aggressive behavior, especially among adolescents.15

Additionally, children who are not properly nurtured tend to become anxious. The parents’ failure to provide a supportive, safe, and stable environment for the child feeds this anxiety. As these children grow, they find ways to cope with the anxiety. Some children become aggressive while others may resort to drug or alcohol use.16 Studies have found differences in “anxiety, conduct disturbances, higher total behavior problems, more difficult temperaments and manifestations of anger” when comparing children exposed to domestic violence to children who were not.17

Treating the Problems Before Children Enter the Criminal Justice System

Effective approaches to intervention and prevention may involve multiple agencies. To prevent juvenile crime, prosecutors may need to collaborate with schools, social services, and law enforcement. Prosecutors may work with these groups to develop a plan for identifying minors who are exposed to domestic violence and referring them to appropriate intervention and/or treatment programs. Child protective services, other social and health services, school resource officers and other law enforcement officers may all be able to assist in identifying children in violent homes.

Juvenile intervention programs work best when they intervene and prevent children from engaging in behavior that requires them to be committed to detention centers and jails. Successful programs can counteract violent messages that children may be getting at home. Interventions should focus on key factors that contribute to a child’s resilience to the effects of violence: support from a caring adult, access to a community safe haven, and a child’s own internal resources.18

Suggested Programs for Children Exposed to Domestic Violence

Examples of programs that may provide support to children exposed to domestic violence and buffer the negative effects of this risk factor for delinquency are Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and The Incredible Years.

The purpose of Big Brothers Big Sisters is to introduce a supportive adult into the life of a child who needs a positive role model. Volunteers go through a rigorous screening and training process to ensure that they are suitable for such a position. An evaluation of the program found that a majority of the participants developed higher quality relationships with peers and their parents than non-participants.19 The study also revealed that participants were almost one-third less likely to hit others.20

The Incredible Years is a program that involves parents, teachers, and children. This program is designed to prevent and treat emotional and behavioral problems in children, with the idea that addressing behavioral problems at an early age will, among other things, prevent later delinquency. As a part of this program, parents are taught how to improve their problem solving and communication skills, as well as how to enhance the family support system. The program is also designed to improve children’s social skills, emotional self-awareness, self-control strategies, and problem solving abilities. An evaluation of The Incredible Years found improved communication and problem solving as well as fewer behavior problems in children.21 Most of the parents and children who showed such progress maintained their improved skills for years after completion of the program.22

Conclusion

While prosecutors must maintain policies that hold juvenile delinquents accountable for their actions, the prevention of violent behavior and delinquency should also play a substantial role in each jurisdiction’s approach to juvenile justice. Research indicates that children who witness domestic violence at home are more likely to become violent and aggressive. By identifying and working with children who witness domestic violence in the home, we are attacking juvenile crime at its source. Prosecutors should work with other agencies to introduce troubled children to programs that provide support, direction, and counseling while teaching problem solving, self-control, and interpersonal skills. Preventing juvenile crime tomorrow is enhanced by intervening in the lives of troubled youth today.

1 Staff Attorney, National Juvenile Justice Prosecution Center, American Prosecutors Research Institute.
2 Edelson, Jeffrey L. Problems Associated with Children’s Witnessing of Domestic Violence. University of Minnesota, School of Social Work, April 1999.
3 Knowlton, Douglas and Schultz, Ryan M. Family Violence: Children are Always the Victims. Just in Time Research: Children, Youth and Families, 1999.
4 Id.
5 Id.
6 Id.
7 National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information. In Harm’s Way: Domestic Violence and Child Maltreatment.
8 Carlson, B.E., Children’s Observations of Interparental Violence: Battered Women and their Families pp. 147-167: Springer (1984).
9 Osofsky, Joy D. The Impact of Violence on Children. The Future of Children, Domestic Violence and Children, Vol. 9 No. 3, Winter 1999.
10 Carr, Joetta L. and VanDeusen, Karen M. The Relationship Between Family of Origin Violence and Dating Violence in College Men, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Vol.17, No.6, June 2002.
11 See supra n.9
12 Id.
13 Id.
14 See supra n.6.
15 See supra n.7.
16 See supra n.7.
17 See supra n.7.
18 See supra n.6.
19 Blueprints for Violence Prevention: Book Two, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence. Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado, 1997.
20 Id.
21 Blueprints for Violence Prevention: Book Eleven, The Incredible Years. Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence. Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado, 2001.
22 Id.