Toward a Trauma-Informed Criminology: Bridging Public Health, Feminist Theory, and Criminology to Prevent Criminalization of Trauma

• In Event: Examining Adverse Childhood Experiences, Trauma, and Criminological Theory to Understand Delinquency and Risky Behavior

Abstract

Research on the abuse to prison pipeline fails to have a comprehensive theoretical framework that captures the complexities of trauma in youth and the various ways this leads to legal involvement. This article calls for a paradigm shift in criminology and traces the roots of trauma-informed research through an interdisciplinary lens. Theories and concepts from public health and feminism were integrated with existing criminological frameworks on trauma to fill gaps and advance understanding of the criminalization of trauma. Public health frameworks on primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention and the socioecological framework are utilized to describe the pathways that comprise the abuse to prison pipeline, while feminist pathways literature provides insight into understanding the gendered nature of this pipeline. Criminological theories that allude to or directly speak to trauma, such as general strain theory, social bond theory, and social stress theory, were also added. Emerging from the combination of all these theoretical perspectives from multiple disciplines is a new framing of the abuse to prison pipeline: trauma-informed criminology. By offering trauma-informed criminology, scholars can more adequately identify root causes of harm and advocate for youth who experience trauma, ultimately working toward dismantling the current punitive system that criminalizes self-protective behavior.

Authors

• Mackenzie Freeman, West Virginia University

• Brandie Pugh, West Virginia University