Trauma-Informed Criminology

• In Event: Innovations and New Directions in Criminological Theory

Abstract

This paper represents a first attempt at developing a trauma-informed criminological paradigm – a theoretical perspective that emphasizes the role of trauma as both a salient predictor of violence and as an outcome of the criminal legal system developed in America and exported across the globe. While criminological and sociological research has documented the presence of trauma in populations under study for decades, our current theoretical perspectives are not focused on trauma. This paper proposes a new “trauma-informed criminology” that builds on the wealth of literature from disciplines such as cognitive psychology, trauma recovery, and critical sociology and criminology. The crux of this paradigm is that modern criminal justice relies on and re-creates trauma as a necessary component of control. It posits that early childhood traumatic experiences, intergenerational trauma, acute and complex PTSD, and vicarious trauma impact virtually everyone who comes in contact with the system; not only those under its control, but also those working in CJ and those who study it, including our students and ourselves. Implications for the field and suggestions for future research, teaching, and community interventions are discussed.

Author

• Mica Deckard, Old Dominion University