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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue

Time: 2:55 am

Results for orders of protection

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Author: Klein, Andrew

Title: An Exploratory Study of Juvenile Orders of Protection as a Remedy for Dating Violence

Summary: An increasing number of states, like New York, are expanding order of protection (OP) laws to allow teens to secure orders for dating violence without parental involvement. New York did so effective July, 2008. While there has been extensive research in regard to civil OPs involving adults for intimate partner violence, this study of all OPs taken out by New York dating violence victims in 2009 and 2010 represents the first of its kind to examine OPs involving teens for dating violence. The goal of this research is to increase our understanding of OPs by teens as a remedy for dating violence by developing a comprehensive portrait of their use in New York State. The study is both quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative portion of the study features secondary data analysis of multiple data sets, including all appropriate OPs obtained from New York Family Courts and criminal histories and police incident files from the State's Division of Criminal Justice Services. The qualitative research is based on focus groups and individual interviews with two populations of youth: 1) a statewide sample (N=122), both boys and girls, likely to be dating and exposed to dating violence but who had not necessarily used OPs (At Risk Group) and 2) a small sample of New York City young women (N=13) who have sought and/or secured Civil Orders of Protection (User Group). We find the New York law to be very much a work in progress. Even the lowest estimates of teen dating violence (9.4% physical abuse, CDC, 2012), far exceed the number of OPs (1,200) requested for dating violence in the two years of study. As the At Risk teen focus groups reveals, teens are unfamiliar with the expanded law. In addition, the User group reports substantial barriers facing teens in obtaining orders, including being labeled as "snitches" by their peers, fears that OPs would not work, and ambivalence about giving up on the abusive relationship. The data reveals that more than 90% of the petitioners were female and respondents male. While all of the victims were teens, most of the abusers were not, averaging just short of 21 years old. The majority of respondents had prior criminal histories. Most victims alleged harassment, including cyberstalking, and assaults. The relatively few female respondents more closely resembled female petitioners, than male respondents, being younger and less likely to have prior arrest histories. Police were involved in only 10 percent of the incidents that prompted the study petitions. While the majority of the teen petitioners returned to court more than once, most received only one or two temporary orders, lasting a month or so. Likely as a result of this limited duration, few respondents were charged with violating the orders. However, analysis of arrest and police incident reports, as well as new petitions taken out by study petitioners, indicated that a little more than a quarter of the respondents re-abused their victims from one to three years after the initial petition. Risk for re-abuse was associated with gender (being male), respondents having a prior criminal history, respondents being year or more older than their victims, and couples with children in common. The research suggests OPs potentially constitute an important tool for teen victims. However, given lack of police involvement, without an alternative network of supportive adults, including parents and school personnel, the expanded use of OPs for teen dating violence will remain limited. New York courts also face a challenge in accommodating teen petitioners.

Details: Report to the U.S. Department of Justice, 2013. 172p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 26, 2015 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/242131.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: United States

URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/242131.pdf

Shelf Number: 129682

Keywords:
Cybercrimes
Cyberstalking
Dating Violence
Orders of Protection
Restraining Orders