Posted on Mon, Aug. 28, 2006
Abusive teens face charges more
often
Associated Press
CLEVELAND
- The number of juveniles
charged with domestic violence in
Cuyahoga County has jumped about 94
percent in the past decade.
Last
year, 977 teens there were charged
with domestic violence, compared to
504 in 1996.
Some
experts say parents are more willing
to report their children as abusers.
Others say authorities are more apt
to prosecute teens, rather than send
them to counseling.
Most
experts say adolescent-to-parent
abuse remains underreported.
Researchers estimate the instances
of children abusing parents --
physically, mentally or emotionally
-- is as high as 18 percent in
two-parent homes and 30 percent in
single-parent homes.
Jerome Price of the Michigan Family
Therapy Institute attributes the
problem to a power shift. ``It
started in the 1960s, when people
began to view children as people
with rights,'' he said. ``They
should have rights, but we went too
far and gave them equal rights.''
Complicating the issue, he said, is
that corporal punishment fell out of
favor but nothing replaced it.
Juvenile public defender Salvatore
Amata said kids are often arrested
because it's the simplest solution
for police, even though most fights
are ``mutual combat.''
