Exposure to trauma is a predictor of system involvement.

Our growing knowledge about the effects of trauma on young people’s behavior and coping skills is transforming the field of juvenile justice. The link between exposure to trauma and subsequent system-involvement is so strong that it has set into motion new interventions for vulnerable young people considered at-risk of arrest. “Trauma-informed” care is now an accepted and widely used term for injecting this knowledge into mental health, rehabilitative, and educational treatments.

Trauma response puts youth in jeopardy when dealing with authority figures.

Yet, despite the growing use of this knowledge base by adults, young people themselves are often wholly unaware of what trauma looks and feels like in themselves or in their friends. Many have no idea when or how their fear, confusion, or sense of powerlessness gets activated, or what to do when it does. Rather, their hyper-vigilance and “fight or flight” impulses can put them in extreme jeopardy when dealing with authority figures, particularly police officers, who frequently misinterpret these traumatic responses as belligerence, hostility, and intentional disrespect. This creates a toxic dynamic between law enforcement and young people that can quickly escalate into use of force and arrest.