Adolescent Perpetrators Chapter Six

1. Adolescent PerpetratorsChapter Six DR GINNA BABCOCK

2. Introduction • Children at risk for being victimized by family violence and for perpetrating it against others • Research finds some forms of victimization increase the risk of juvenile criminal offending • Juvenile offending can be seen in specific categories of crime

3. Family Based Theory • Multidimensional theories address juvenile crime and child abuse • Multidimensional theories do not restrict themselves to any one major school of thought • Consider causes and effects of family violence from a broader perspective • According to family based theories, violent behaviors are caused by the family structure and family interactions rather than by an individual within the family

4. Family Systems Theory • An important concept in family systems theory is the interconnectedness of each member who influences the others in a predictable and recurring way • The role that each family member takes in contributing to the abuse or neglect is considered • Example: If the father is the perpetrator, the possibility of the mother’s reluctant intervention may appear to be tacit approval, it would be explored as a contributing factor in the repeated occurrence of abuse

5. Ineffective Parenting • Parents critical factor in the development of children • Poor monitoring, low levels of positive parent–child involvement, and coercive parenting are among the practices believed to affect aggression and bullying in juveniles

6. Causes of Sibling Abuse • Overwhelmed parents—Parents who are coping with problems that are overwhelming lack the ability or energy to intervene in sibling abuse • Inappropriate expectations—Parents often expect an older sibling to care for younger children in their absence • Lack of parenting skills—Sometimes parents are ineffective in controlling sibling abuse because they do not know how or what to do

7. Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect • Children may experience similar symptoms to abuse that an adult would when he or she has experienced a traumatic event • Inability to verbalize sadness and fear • Think they will lose their caregiver • Children who either witnessed violence in their parents or experienced abuse may learn violent behavior • May also learn to justify violent behavior as appropriate • Majority of abuse victims do not commit family or other forms of violence as adults

8. Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect • Intergenerational Cycle of Violence • Resilience and Self Esteem • Childhood Abuse and Delinquent or Criminal Behavior • Childhood Abuse and Social Consequences • Childhood Abuse and Psychological Consequences • Consequences of Witnessing Family Violence

9. Intergenerational Cycle of Violence • Child abuse studies find some maltreating parents or caregivers were victims of abuse themselves as children • Intergenerational cycle of violence: abused children are more likely to become abusers themselves than those who are not abused • Much evidence supports violence-begets-violence hypothesis, the intergenerational transmission is not clear • Children raised in homes where they witness partner violence are at risk for developing psychological problems

10. Intergenerational Cycle of Violence • Type, degree, and frequency of violence • Is mother or father helpless victim of assault? Or equal participant in mutual combativeness? • Role of child: calling the police, intervening physically, or pretending to ignore the violence • Stability of the home otherwise and general quality of parenting • Child’s chronological & emotional age, stage of physical development, intellectual functioning at the time of the first occurrence, • Child’s relationship with each parent • Degree of support to child from siblings, pets, extended family, friends, or interested adults • Reaction of others to battered parent’s request for help

11. Resilience and Self Esteem • Not all maltreated children grow up to abuse their own children • Majority of children victimized through domestic violence do not commit criminal acts as adults • Research finds about one-third who experience child abuse will subject their children to maltreatment • Theory on global self-esteem: self-image develops early in life through experiences in childhood • Self image characterized by self-esteem may be more fully developed throughout adolescence • Resilience: manifestation of self-esteem, thought to be one of the factors that mediate the negative effects of child abuse

12. Childhood Abuse and Delinquent or Criminal Behavior • Child victims at greater risk of becoming offenders themselves • Being abused or neglected as a child increases the likelihood of arrest as a juvenile by 59 percent • As an adult by 28 percent • Arrest for a violent crime as an adult by 30 percent • Researchers identified relationships between child maltreatment and subsequent violence perpetration

13. Childhood Abuse and Social Consequences • Victimization of children has grave social consequences • Victims at age 29 scored significantly lower on intelligence tests and completed fewer years of school • Problems with quality of personal relations • Higher rate of divorce and separation • Higher rates of suicide attempts • Higher incidence of antisocial personality disorder, and • Alcohol abuse regardless of age, sex, race, or criminal history

14. Childhood Abuse and Psychological Consequences • Emotional and psychological problems in adulthood one consequence of child abuse • Experiencing a physical assault or physically abusive punishment as a child associated with: • 12 % increase in the likelihood of posttraumatic stress disorder in boys, and • 21 % increase in girls • Child sexual abuse elevates maternal depression and substance abuse • Child sexual abuse has long-term repercussions for adult mental health, parenting relations, and child adjustment in the succeeding generation

15. Consequences of Witnessing Family Violence • Children witnessing family violence is linked to: • Depression • Cognitive impairment • At greater risk for victim abuse • Impact on emotional, social development • Men more likely to hit • Women more likely to be victims

16. Adolescent Offending Patterns • Common that adolescent is both victim and offender of child abuse • High school students with histories of maltreatment experience significant adjustment and emotional problems • Female students: risk of anger and depression, anxiety, and post traumatic stress disorder • Alcohol abuse, marijuana abuse, hard drug abuse, and delinquent behavior for boys and girls • Boys: three times more likely to commit crime than girls

17. Animal Cruelty • Defined as socially unacceptable behavior that intentionally causes unnecessary pain, suffering, or distress to and /or death of an animal • Ranges from toddler pulling kitten’s tail to serious animal torture • Animal abuse more likely to occur where children are abused and neglected at home • May be associated with exposure to family violence • Sexually abused children more likely to engage in bestiality as adolescents

18. Juvenile Child Care Offenders • Older children account for ~ 40 percent of offenses committed in childcare context • Male and female offenders identified as potential abusers of children placed in their care • Males responsible for a larger proportion of sexual offenses

19. Firesetting • Juvenile firesetters: children or adolescent who engages in firesetting • Strong link between juvenile abuse victimization and firesetting • Abuse and neglect are risk factors contributing to a more severe course of firesetting • Firesetting is a coping mechanism for troubled youth who have been victimized • An association has been established between juveniles who abuse animals and those who set fires

20. Murder • In the United States, juveniles were involved in an estimated 1300 murders in 2002 • Family members accounted for 16 percent of victims • Parricide: the killing of one’s parent • Matricide: mother is killed by one of her children • Patricide: the act of killing the father

21. Runaway • Between 1.6 and 2.8 million juveniles run away every year • Many police departments fail to report these children who run away, are lost, or abducted • Policies and laws vary from state to state • Runaways and prostitution are among the responses by females who are sexually assaulted • Over 70 percent of girls in the juvenile justice system have been sexually abuse and assaulted

22. Sexual Offending • Sexual offenders report they began in their adolescent years • An early target may be a younger sibling • May abuse because he or she has learned that this acceptable or may act out of rage due to their own experiences • Juveniles account for approximately one-fifth of all rapes and one-half of child molestation cases committed in the United States • These figures believed to be high underestimated of the prevalence of sexual offending

23. Sibling Violence • No single explanation has evolved to explain sibling abuse: rather, a combined condition has been identified • Child is born and conditioned into violent behavior • Abuse of power generally occurs when a sibling attempts to compensate for a lack or loss of power • Abusers perceive an imbalance between themselves and younger siblings • About 53 percent of children aged 3 to 7 have committed violence against brother or sister

24. Physical Abuse • Is defined as one member of the sibling pair deliberately causing physical harm to another • Consistently revealed by research as the most common form of family violence • Most significant predictor of physical sibling abuse is animal abuse and physical assaulting of school staff • Abuse may involve: • Shoving, hitting, slapping, kicking, biting, pinching, and hair pulling • Use of broom handles, rubber hoses, coat hangers, hairbrushes, belts, knives, guns and rifles, broken glass, blades and scissors, drowning attempts, suffocation,

25. Sexual Abuse • Sibling incest: is sexual behavior between siblings that is not age appropriate, not transitory, and not motivated by developmentally appropriate curiosity • A common misconception is that it is playful and not harmful for the younger child • Sibling abuse more common than parent abuse • Examples: • Unwanted sexual advances • Sexual leers, • Forcing a sibling to view pronographic material • Intercourse

26. Emotional abuse • Characterized by the constancy and intensity of the words and actions that express contempt and degradation • Most difficult category to define in the sibling relationship • Usually thought to be normal sibling rivalry • Increased risk of habit disorders, conduct disorders, neurotic traits, psychoneurotic reactions, and suicide attempts

27. Teen Dating Violence • Dating violence means an act by an individual with whom that person has or has had a dating relationship and that is intended to result in physical harm, bodily injury, assault or sexual assault, or • a threat that reasonably places the individual in fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury, assault or sexual assault, but does not include defensive measures • During the adolescent years one in three teens are involved in abusive relationships

28. Parent Abuse • A significant proportion of family violence is perpetrated by a juvenile against parents or siblings • Percentage has increased • Reasons for increase: • Better training for police officers • Broader definition of domestic violence • Greater awareness of what is unacceptable behavior within family • Children of battered women may identify with the batterer against the mother, not uncommon for the child to assault the mother

29. Pedophilia • Refers to an adult who engages in sexual acts with a child as their preferred sexual partner • Attempts have been made to legalize the practice of boy sexual relationships involving an adult and child • Mean age of male pedophilia 28 years • 26 years old for female offenders • Have often experienced sexual abuse as children

30. Child Pornography • A recent rise in the numbers of cases involving child pornography • Commonly believed that most child pornography crimes are undiscovered • Two types that involve juveniles: • Juvenile victim pornography whichincludes an identifiable victim of sexual abuse • Child exploitation pornography which the child is sexually depicted but no additional offense is involved