TEEN DATING VIOLENCE AWARENESS AND PREVENTION WEEK

October 18, 2005

MR. CRAPO: Mr./Madam President, I rise to introduce a resolution in a
critical and too often overlooked subject---teen dating violence. For
many decades the tragic crime of domestic violence in the United States
went largely unacknowledged by the public face that our society wears.
Behind smiling couples and seemingly carefree children lurked something
that was better left unspoken, or so many were convinced. Fortunately,
in recent years, this dreadful violence that makes a home a prison where
rights, human dignity and freedom are eclipsed by fear and rage is now
something that society is more willing to acknowledge, talk about and
report to proper authorities. As we expose domestic violence to the
light of truth and hold perpetrators accountable for their violent
actions and destructive words, it is important to address the reality of
the transgenerational nature of this crime within families.

I've always liked the adage, "Children learn what they live." Never is
this more true than in the case of abuse and domestic violence. When
children begin to enter their teen years, the relationship norms they
learned watching those in parental roles become their own. The results
in many junior high, high schools, and colleges across our nation are
chilling:

\- 20 percent of surveyed male students reported witnessing someone they
go to high school with physically hit a person they were dating;

\- 58 percent of rape victims report having been raped between the ages
of 12-24;

\- 81 percent of parents surveyed either believe teen dating violence is
not an issue or admit they don't know if it is an issue;

\- There is a clear link between adolescent dating violence and adult
marital violence.

Clearly, the crime of teen dating violence, including physical,
emotional, and sexual assault, is a reality for many American teenagers.
Like drug abuse, it's a reality of which many parents are unaware. It
makes sense to have the people most affected by this insidious disease
leading the efforts to raise awareness of and prevent the further spread
of it.

The Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Initiative is a
movement spearheaded by teenagers across the nation to make a stand and
put a stop to teen dating violence. Led by the American Bar
Association's Steering Committee on the Unmet Legal Needs of Children
and co-sponsored by dozens of other organizations, teenagers from 20
State Teams attended a national awareness and education summit in 2004.
At that time, they developed Teen Dating Violence Prevention and
Awareness Toolkits to distribute to high schools across the nation in
conjunction with a proposed National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and
Prevention Week in early 2006.

Today, I am introducing a resolution declaring February 6 -- 10, 2006,
National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week. Many
governors, the Department of Education and the Department of Justice
have already pledged to work with the goals and activities that are part
of the Initiative. This resolution calls on government representatives
and agencies, private organizations and public officials to promote
activities in their respective communities that raise awareness of the
high incidence of teen dating violence that occurs among our teens every
day, as well as prevention strategies. I thank my colleagues, Senators
Cantwell, Murray, Lieberman, Murkowski, Durbin, Akaka and Biden in
joining me in raising awareness of the problem. This is one major step
we can take toward the goal of eliminating the tragedy of children
hurting children, and I am privileged to be in a position to help lead
this effort.