Something old or something new: do pre-existing conceptualisations of abuse enable a sufficient response to abuse in young people's relationships and peer-groups?

Evidence in the UK has identified that children and young people experience violence and sexual exploitation in their intimate relationships (Barter, 2009; Pearce, 2009) or in their peer groups and street gangs (Beckett et al., 2012; Firmin, 2010, 2011; OCC, 2012a). In response, policy makers and practitioners have applied pre-existing conceptualisations of ‘domestic abuse’, ‘CSE’ and ‘serious youth violence’ to address this ‘peer-on-peer’ abuse, with each involving different definitions, policy frameworks and operational responses.