Most parents first hear the phrase teen dating violence from a police officer or a school administrator, not from a statute. What Washington actually does with that accusation is narrower and more procedural than the phrase suggests. Generally, the case goes to juvenile court. The domestic violence label attaches only when specific relationship and age conditions are met, and a first misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor charge often never reaches a judge at all. Jennifer Horwitz has practiced criminal defense in Seattle and King County for more than 30 years, and juvenile defense is a core area of her Seattle juvenile defense practice.
Which Crimes Carry the Domestic Violence Label
Washington does not charge a standalone crime called domestic violence. The designation attaches to another offense. State law names the offenses that become domestic violence crimes when one family or household member commits them against another, or when one intimate partner commits them against another, and it says in the same breath that the list is not exhaustive.
The list is longer than most families expect, and several of its entries appear regularly in cases involving teenagers.
- Assault in the fourth degree, which covers an assault that does not amount to assault in the first, second, or third degree or custodial assault
- Malicious mischief, the property damage charge
- Reckless endangerment and coercion
- Stalking, and interference with the reporting of domestic violence
- Violating a protection order or a no contact order
The designation matters because it changes which statutes apply to the case, and it is tied to the underlying charge rather than to a separate crime of its own. Whether it attaches at all depends on the relationship between the two young people, and that is where Washington draws a line almost no one expects.
The Age Line That Changes Everything
For a dating relationship, the criminal definition reaches only teenagers who are at least 16. Washington defines intimate partners to include people 16 or older who have or have had a dating relationship with someone else 16 or older. Two 15 year olds whose only connection is dating do not meet that definition, and neither does a 15 year old dating a 17 year old. Other relationship categories carry no age floor, including having a child in common.
None of that makes the conduct lawful. An assault is still an assault, and a prosecutor can still file it. What changes is the domestic violence designation.
The civil side uses a different number. Washington’s civil protection order chapter treats people as intimate partners when they have or have had a dating relationship and both are at least 13. A 14 year old can therefore be protected by a dating relationship protection order in a situation where the criminal label would never attach. Families who read only one of the two statutes end up with the wrong picture, so it is worth seeing how Washington defines a domestic violence crime in its own words.
Relationships inside the home follow their own rule. The criminal definition covers a biological or legal parent and child with no age floor at all, and it reaches stepparents, stepchildren, grandparents, and grandchildren on the same terms. A case between a teenager and a parent or grandparent can carry the label even when a dating case would not. King County Juvenile Court publishes program and safety information for families dealing with violence at home.
Where a Teen Case Is Heard and When Adult Court Is a Real Risk
Juvenile courts in Washington hold exclusive original jurisdiction over offenses committed by juveniles, subject to narrow exceptions written into the statute itself. Adult criminal court takes a case automatically only when the young person was 16 or 17 at the time and the charge is a serious violent offense, a violent offense paired with a specific prior record, or rape of a child in the first degree.
A prosecutor, the young person, or the court can also move to decline juvenile jurisdiction and transfer the case. A decline hearing can be set only in defined situations, and the one that reaches most teenagers requires that the juvenile was at least 15 and is charged with a serious violent offense. Serious violent offense is a defined term in Washington sentencing law. The only assaults on that list are assault in the first degree and assault of a child in the first degree.
Assault in the fourth degree is a gross misdemeanor, and Washington raises it to a class C felony only where domestic violence is pleaded and proven, and the person already has two or more prior adult convictions within ten years for listed offenses. A juvenile with a first case cannot meet that condition. Either way, fourth degree assault is neither a violent offense nor a serious violent offense, so standing alone it cannot move a teen dating violence case toward adult court.
Why Many First Cases Never Reach a Judge
Washington requires diversion in several clearly defined situations, and one of them covers most first teen cases. Where a case is legally sufficient, the prosecutor must divert it if the offense is a misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor, or violation and it is the young person’s first offense or violation. Because fourth degree assault is a gross misdemeanor, a first teen dating violence case often falls inside that rule.
The rule has real limits. If the teenager is also charged with a related offense the prosecutor may file, the case can be filed anyway, and a diversion unit is free to refuse an agreement and send the case back to court.
Diversion itself is a contract between the young person and a diversion unit, entered in place of prosecution. It may not run longer than six months, and the teenager can ask for up to six more months if more time is needed to finish the terms. The conditions it may impose are capped by statute and include community service of no more than 150 hours, restitution limited to a victim’s actual loss, and counseling or educational sessions within set hour limits.
A parent cannot decline the agreement on a teenager’s behalf, and the right to counsel attaches before the first diversion interview. For a family in Seattle, a case like this is heard in King County Juvenile Court, and diversion is handled through the county’s juvenile court diversion process.
What Happens to the Record Afterward
Washington schedules sealing at the front end rather than leaving it to a later petition. At the disposition hearing, the court sets an administrative sealing hearing for the first regular sealing date after the latest of the events that apply:
- The teenager’s 18th birthday
- The anticipated end of probation if probation was ordered
- Release from juvenile rehabilitation confinement or completion of parole
At that hearing, the court seals the record if the young person is no longer on supervision and has paid the restitution owed to an individual victim named in the restitution order.
Three categories are kept off that automatic track: a most serious offense, a sex offense under the state’s sex offense chapter, and a drug offense. A gross misdemeanor assault is none of the three. That is a real difference between a teen dating violence case and the felony cases parents tend to read about online.
Talk With Jennifer About a Teen Dating Violence Case
These cases move quickly, and the earliest decisions about statements, release conditions, and diversion usually matter more than anything that happens months later. Jennifer Horwitz is a Harvard Law School graduate who has spent more than 30 years defending people accused of serious crimes in Seattle and throughout Washington. Super Lawyers named her one of the Top Women Attorneys of 2024, and Forbes Advisor named her among the Best Seattle Lawyers.
Jennifer handles intake personally and offers in-depth one-hour paid consultations, which give a family room to walk through the facts and the options without a rushed phone screen. Visit the Consultation Station to book a session, or contact her office to get started.