Trauma-informed juvenile justice systems: A systematic review of definitions and core components.

Abstract

Objective The US Department of Justice has called for the creation of trauma-informed juvenile justice systems in order to combat the negative impact of trauma on youth offenders and front-line staff. Definitions of trauma-informed care have been proposed for various service systems yet there is not currently a widely accepted definition for juvenile justice. The current systematic review examined published definitions of a trauma-informed juvenile justice system in an effort to identify the most commonly named core elements and specific interventions or policies. Method A systematic literature search was conducted in 10 databases to identify publications that defined trauma-informed care or recommended specific practices or policies for the juvenile justice system. Results We reviewed 950 unique records, of which 10 met criteria for inclusion. The 10 publications included 71 different recommended interventions or policies that reflected 10 core domains of trauma-informed practice. We found eight specific practice or policy recommendations with relative consensus, including staff training on trauma and trauma-specific treatment, while most recommendations were included in two or less definitions. Conclusion The extant literature offers relative consensus around the core domains of a trauma-informed juvenile justice system but much less agreement on the specific practices and policies. A logical next step is a review of the empirical research to determine which practices or policies produce positive impacts on outcomes for youth, staff, and the broader agency environment, which will help refine the core definitional elements that comprise a unified theory of trauma-informed practice for juvenile justice.

Use of Trauma‐Informed Care With Incarcerated Offenders

“…Branson, Baetz, Horwitz, and Hoagwood () described trauma‐informed care as an “integration of trauma awareness and understanding throughout an organization” (p. 636). Counselors must meet five basic principles of trauma‐informed care: safety, trust, empowerment, choice, and collaboration (Harris & Fallot, ; Knight, ).…”

Development and Pilot of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network Trauma‐Informed Juvenile Court Self‐Assessment

“…Listening to the traumatic stories youth share and managing their traumatic stress reactions can impact staff wellbeing and result in a number of symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress such as fatigue, mentally replaying traumatic experiences, or avoiding situations that remind staff of traumatic stories or situations. Promoting work environments that support staff wellbeing by infusing STS prevention practices can reduce staff absenteeism, improve morale, and increase staff cohesion (Branson et al, 2017;Ko et al, 2008). When leadership provides supervision and support that directly helps staff cope with the challenges and stress inherent in juvenile justice settings, those settings are safer and more efficient.…”

Effect of trauma-informed care on hair cortisol concentration in youth welfare staff and client physical aggression towards staff: results of a longitudinal study

“…But TIC concepts should not be limited to residential group homes and youth welfare institutions [10]. They are relevant for all psychosocial settings, such as juvenile justice institutions [11,12], special needs schools, child and adolescent, as well as, adult psychiatric settings [13], paediatric health care networks [14], shelters for the homeless, refugee centres (9), rehabilitation and detox centres [15] etc. A systematic review [16] of TIC literature on concepts with staff training reported 23 implementation and evaluation studies.…”