This research investigates adolescent violence towards parents. It maps the contours of the problem of adolescent-to-parent violence, exploring how it is defined, experienced and negotiated by parents and adolescents and how violent assaults committed by adolescents within the home are currently processed and managed within the criminal justice system. The research aims to increase the visibility and understanding of adolescent-to-parent violence and to develop clear recommendations for effective policies and appropriate interventions for these families and the criminal justice agencies they encounter. Adolescent-to-parent violence does not fall within official definitions of domestic violence and the problem has remained largely unarticulated within the fields of youth justice, domestic violence, policing, and criminology, particularly in the UK. Limited previous research within the fields of psychiatry, psychology and family studies suggests that adolescent-to-parent violence is a significant and growing problem. The research utilises a range of methods to investigate the different dimensions of this complex, multifaceted and under-researched form of family violence including interviews with parents and young people, parent audio diaries, analysis of recorded cases in police databases and youth offending service case files, and interviews with youth offending workers and police officers who specialise in domestic violence.

In-depth semi-structured interviews with parents experiencing violence from their adolescents, adolescents who are violent towards parents, and practitioners who work with them. Analysis of police case files and recorded cases.