Like most kids involved with the juvenile justice system, Jasmine has a history of trauma: Her mother was addicted to heroin and neglected her. Her father wasn’t around when she was little, and died just as she was starting to get to know him. She’s been in and out of juvenile detention for years, most recently for drug use and evading arrest.
Jasmine just had her 18th birthday behind bars and now she’s facing an uncertain future. “I’m kind of on my own, and I don’t really know what to do,” she said on the first episode of “Roadmap for Change: Trauma Recovery and Juvenile Justice.”
The new podcast from the Center for Trauma Recovery and Juvenile Justice is co-produced by Keith Cruise, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Fordham and co-director of the center, which is a partnership among Fordham, the University of Connecticut Health Center, and other institutions.
Through the podcast and the center’s other work, Cruise is on a mission to elevate the voices of young people like Jasmine, and to infuse trauma-informed care into the juvenile justice system.
Creating a Trauma-Informed Juvenile Justice System
Stories like Jasmine’s are not uncommon in juvenile detention. On average, kids who come into contact with the justice system have experienced four traumatic life events, and according to a 2021 study, 23% of detained girls and 9% of detained boys meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder. (The respective rates in the general population are just 8% and 2%.)
The center is affiliated with the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and is funded through the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. It trains juvenile justice professionals across the country—like judges, lawyers, probation officers, and social workers—to understand and respond to the trauma they see every day while working with young people and their families.
As a co-director, Cruise helps to manage the center’s work plan and develop training, information, and resources. He hopes to shift the conversation away from short-term punitive measures and toward deeper healing of youth and families while also promoting community safety.
“When youth get arrested and charged in juvenile court, the focus tends to be on the behaviors they’ve engaged in and their level of aggression and acting out,” said Cruise. “We hope to raise awareness that behaviors are shaped by what a youth has experienced in the past … and if trauma can help to explain delinquent behaviors, that opens up new avenues for intervening.”
To that end, Cruise said, the center supports universal screening for trauma for kids in the juvenile justice system, along with increased access to treatment, including grief therapy, which the center trains professionals to provide.
“One of the most common traumatic events that youth experience in their lives is traumatic loss. They’ve lost a family member, a loved one, or a close friend, usually due to community violence, gang violence, or a violent crime that resulted in death,” Cruise said.
Elevating the Voices of Adolescents and Their Families
Cruise hopes the podcast will amplify the experiences of adolescents like Jasmine so that everyone involved in the juvenile justice system can approach their work with greater understanding.
“The stories from youth and families themselves are really important,” said Cruise. “Good trauma-informed care treats youth and families as the experts in their own life stories and co-collaborators in what they need to recover and heal. We need to learn from their voices and their experiences.”
Listen to “Roadmap for Change: Trauma Recovery and Juvenile Justice.”
