The Thread of Trauma: A Critical Analysis of the Criminal Legal System

A thread of trauma weaves throughout the U.S. criminal legal system, beginning with individual childhood experiences that are situated within families, communities, and systems that are embedded in structural oppression, thereby increasing the risk of initial and subsequent traumas. The criminal legal system, where individuals who experience prior trauma are more likely to be system-involved, exposes racial minority youths especially to further trauma. This thread also impacts criminal legal system professionals who bear witness to the indirect trauma of victims and people who have harmed, which is often manifested in secondary and vicarious trauma symptoms, while may also cause them to grapple with their own prior trauma. The author offers a critical theory of trauma based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework, first by examining select scholarly research on individual-, relationship-, community-, and system-level trauma, including trauma within the criminal legal system. The system is then examined through the lens of critical race theory, which both explains the persistence of oppression within the system and provides a path to reform by centering on the lived experiences of those most impacted. The author then applies the concepts of secondary and vicarious trauma, psychological safety, and institutional betrayal to explore original research on the impacts of working sex crimes on prosecutors. Finally, implications for system- and organizational-level change and recommendations for future research are offered, including the meaningful engagement of individuals with lived experiences in the development, implementation, and evaluation of victim-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive programs and services.