Teenagers are fastest-growing victim group, according to police estimates, with officers warning about ‘toxic’ online influences
Cases of abuse are growing fastest among teenagers, police have said, with nearly a fifth of girls aged 16-19 estimated to have experienced domestic abuse.
Louisa Rolfe, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for domestic abuse, said “nowhere near enough” was being done to tackle misogyny among young boys and toxic online influences.
Last year, the Office for National Statistics found that young people aged 16 to 19 and 20 to 24 represented a larger share of those experiencing domestic abuse than any other age group.
At a House of Lords committee on the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act, Rolfe said the current definition of abuse under the act “does not currently capture the under-16s” experiencing abuse in their relationships, despite being the “fastest-growing group of victims of domestic abuse”.
