The juvenile justice system has an important role in securing safety for victims and holding offenders accountable. A number of jurisdictions, law enforcement agencies, probation departments and juvenile court’s staff use juvenile assessment instruments or tests to better meet these needs.
It is widely acknowledged that juvenile violence is a significant public health problem. And, the last two decades have seen a proliferation in research and evaluations on juvenile violence. While the bulk of the literature focuses on youth violence, findings may be applied to juvenile violence. Regardless of the approach, working with adolescent perpetrators of domestic violence begins with the identification of violence prone youths. Juvenile perpetrators of domestic violence are also more likely then their non-abusive counterparts to use alcohol or drugs (Cate, Henton, Koval, Christopher & Lloyd, 1982). Substance use and violence potential are related, yet are distinct problems that require specialized intervention (Bennett, 1997).
In 1995, domestic violence was recognized as a significant public health concern in the U.S. Since 1997, violence committed by adolescents has also received a lot of attention due, in part, to a number of high profile school shootings (office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention, 1999). However, it should be noted that risk factor research has not explained the "cause" of juvenile domestic violence. Therefore, "measurement" or "predictor tools" based upon risk factors has not been promising.
In contrast, Risk & Needs Assessment, Inc. (Risk & Needs) measures juvenile criminogenic needs, e.g., alcohol, drugs, violence potential, control issues and stress coping abilities, in order to accurately measure domestic violence potential in juveniles. It is not by accident that the DVI-Juvenile incorporates these important areas of inquiry as test measures or scales. This contributes to understanding juveniles' severity of risk on factors (attitude and behaviors) that contribute to juvenile domestic violence.
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| 1. Truthfulness Scale | 4. Alcohol Scale |
| 2. Violence (Lethality) | 5. Drugs Scale |
| 3. Control Scale |
6. Stress Coping Abilities Scale |
If your searching for a juvenile domestic violence perpetrator assessment instrument or test, we recommend you consider the DVI-Juvenile.
The Domestic Violence Inventory-Juvenile, or DVI-Juvenile, is a test designed specifically for juvenile domestic violence offender assessment. This webpage discusses the DVI-Juvenile, presents an example report and offers a research study for your review.
Bennett, L. (1997). Substance abuse and women abuse by male partners. University of Minnesota, Violence Against Women Online Reference.
Hennacler, S., Melton, G., Smith, L., Hanley, J. & Hutchison, C. (1993). Assessing violent offending in serious juvenile offenders. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 21 (3), 233-243.