Issues in Adolescent Dating Violence Risk Assessment

Abstract

Within the academic and practice fields of adult intimate partner or domestic violence, a concerted, if limited effort has been made to develop and validate risk assessment and risk management protocols, with a view to identifying those individuals who are at risk of repeated violence or abuse towards their partner, and implementing effective risk management strategies to ameliorate that risk. In contrast, despite the evidence which attests to risk for IPV increasing to its peak between ages 16–18 (see Chapter 1), there is currently no standardised assessment designed to assess the risk of these behaviours specifically in adolescent populations. In Chapter 3 we examined the literature regarding risk factors, and concluded that whilst there was clear empirical evidence for some risk factors predicting ADV onset, the state of the science needs to be improved. It is possibly due to this that the development of specific ADV risk assessments has not evolved in a systematic way. Alternatively, the current situation might also reflect the lack of policy attention that ADV has drawn until this point. However, the draft EU Convention on Preventing Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Council of Europe, 2011) includes those under 18 years of age within its definitions, and also specifies in Article 51 that ‘Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that an assessment of the lethality risk, the seriousness of the situation and the risk of repeated violence is carried out by all relevant authorities in order to manage the risk and if necessary to provide coordinated safety and support’.