Dating Violence will follow a victim through their life, and it definitely won’t do be doing them any good.(“Teen Dating Violence” 1). Violence between romantic partners has become a widespread dilemma that has affected society, people’s physical well being, and their mental capacity to tell right from wrong for far too long. This epidemic mentally torchers 1/10 teenagers alone (Mumford et. al 34-40) and has gotten so severe that protection  for victims needed to be included in the VAWA.

The negative effects of Dating Violence comes in many forms, and some of which damage the social aspect of it’s victims. Most Victims of violence from a romantic partner suffer from a lack of confidence, an urge to withdraw and become antisocial, and to start thinking of suicide (“Teen Dating Violence” 1). Victims tend to shy away from engaging in conversation as much as they can, and bottle up all their ideas, thoughts, and talents. If the abuse does get to this serious level, then the effects of dating violence damages society as a whole, as it loses a young, bright contributor of thoughts and ideas.

As a matter of fact, teenagers not only go through an ordeal now, but are more susceptible to later acts of violence. 15% of male- 22% of female victims that experienced dating abuse between the ages of 11-17, find themselves on the receiving end of rape, stalking, and other violent acts as adults. Most of the time, the victims don’t even realize that these behaviors don’t qualify as normal, as it is all they know of from a young and impressionable age. This of course makes them more accepting to the “normal”  acts of violence and abuse later in life.

Additionally, if a victim were to bring a male child into exposure of their violent relationship, the boy would be twice as likely to be an abusive partner in his own relationships (“At Issue:Dating Violence”). This is because as the number of people suffering from dating violence increases, so does the number of people that think it is okay to abuse/ be abused. All of the aforementioned causes come together to create a  recipe for disaster, especially when coupled alongside new ways to control and abuse romantic partners. From apps to see their posts and messages, to phones themselves, it all adds to the restriction of liberties of abuse victims.

Thankfully now, since the Violence Against Women Act was revised and reintroduced in 2013, it has become an invaluable resource for abuse victims. The prosecution rate of abusers and rapists has raised and police are now trained to take every call seriously. This evidently leads to more arrests and eventually the trust of the public that the police will protect domestic violence victims, thus more victims are willing to come forward.

Teen Dating Violence shouldn’t be taken lightly, as it can affect as much as 3/10 in the population first-hand and thousands of others second-hand. It damages society, people’s physical health and even their moral compass. Coincidentally, the VAWA has ended up fighting a majority of the battle against violence, by causing the “rate of intimate partner violence [to decline] 67%“ from 1993- 2010 (“Factsheet:The Violence Against Women Act” 1).