The article examines sociolegal responses to adolescent victimization,
particularly responses to the emotional dimensions of their violent p
ersonal relationships. The investigation reveals how the legal system
generally fails to recognize youth's emotional maltreatment. Responses
tend to consider emotional maltreatment as subordinate and secondary
to some legally prohibited sexual and physical assaults. Rather than c
asting emotional dimensions as ancillary to a narrowly delimited set o
f sexual and physical assaults, this article proposes that efforts to
counter emotional maltreatment become the centerpiece of efforts to un
derstand adolescents' violent relationships; that it become central in
the design of policies aimed to foster adolescent development; and th
at no existing legal rules or policy considerations prevent further re
cognition of adolescents' legal right to protection from emotional mal
treatment. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.