Several new resources that address issues related to family violence are now available, including resources to prevent teen dating violence, new statistics from the Department of Justice on family violence and the use of technology in abuse and stalking.

Abuse of Technology Issues

The ABA Commission on Domestic Violence dedicated its Spring, 2009 e-Newsletter to abuse of technology issues.Guilherme Roschke, a staff attorney at the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence, writes about inter-partner surveillance, technological tools used by perpetrators and recent cases affirming the privacy interest of individuals in their intimate relationships. Further, the Federal Trade Commission has for the first time taken action against a company marketing “Stalkerware” – spyware sold directly to consumers and marketed for uses such as spying on one’s spouse.The newsletter also includes an article on identity theft as well as practice tips on both topics.

http://www.abanet.org/domviol/enewsletter/vol14/index.html

Teen Dating Violence

VAWnet, the national online resource center on violence against women, has developed a special collection on preventing and responding to teen dating violence.This collection emphasizes collaborative approaches to the prevention of and response to teen dating violence.It draws on the work of many organizations and organizes the resources on teen dating violence by different populations. http://new.vawnet.org/category/index_pages.php?category_id=995

Other resources on teen dating violence include:

• LoveIsRespect.org, a national teen dating abuse hotline http://www.loveisrespect.org/
• The American Bar Association National Teen Dating Violence Prevention Initiative http://www.abanet.org/publiced/teendating.shtml

Recent Domestic Violence Crime Statistics

The Department of Justice National Institute of Justice has recently posted a webpage on murder-suicides in families.These include those shocking cases in which an individual murders an intimate partner and their children and then commits suicide.Although rare, these stories often garner widespread media coverage.In almost all cases, the killer is a white, non-Hispanic male.Cases in which women kill their male partners, children and themselves are extremely rare.The web site provides information about risk factors in murder-suicides and the role of guns, shelters and the economy in these cases.

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/topics/crime/intimate-partner-violence/murder-suicide.htm#note1