Youth in the juvenile justice (JJ) system often have a history of trauma, increasing their risk of recidivism. Many JJ facilities lack resources to address these youth's mental health needs. This article aims to provide a practical framework for implementing trauma-informed care (TIC) within JJ settings to address the mental health needs of justice-involved youth and reduce recidivism. The proposed framework outlines actionable steps to integrate TIC in JJ facilities, emphasizing prevention of retraumatization, management of trauma-related behavioral crises, and development of staff training to foster a supportive environment. Leveraging relationships with caregivers, educators, and peers was identified as critical for promoting resilience and successful reintegration into the community. Integrating TIC within JJ settings can shift responses to youth trauma from punitive to therapeutic, supporting diversion to community-based treatment and reducing recidivism. Future directions include evaluating implementation outcomes, staff training models, and system-level policy changes to support TIC in JJ systems. This framework provides clinicians, administrators, and policymakers with practical strategies to operationalize TIC in JJ settings, improving biopsychosocial outcomes for youth while promoting system-level change toward trauma-responsive care.
Sexual violence against children is a serious socio-legal problem in Aceh, Indonesia, a plural legal system comprising national law, Islamic criminal law, and customary institutions. The research examined the effectiveness of existing legal and institutional responses to child sexual violence and designed a culturally sensitive model of restorative justice for the Acehnese socio-legal context. The study used a qualitative socio-legal case study approach and involved 19 informants, including judges, prosecutors, police investigators, community leaders, NGO workers, child protection activists, and victims' parents. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, analysis of five anonymized case files, and field observations. Thematic analysis was performed using the framework of Braun and Clarke, and manual coding was assisted by an Excel-based matrix. The results showed that the overlapping jurisdictions of the Juvenile Criminal Justice System, Child Protection Law, Qanun Jinayat, and Mahkamah Syar'iyah resulted in legal uncertainty, delays in the court process, fragmented victim protection, and the possibility of secondary victimization. Existing punitive approaches were inadequate for psychosocial recovery and long-term child protection. Restorative justice was conditionally backed when delivered through trauma-informed mediation, voluntary participation, psychosocial assistance, institutional coordination, and ethical safeguards. This paper proposes a child-centered restorative justice framework including legal accountability, psychosocial recovery, community participation, and socioreligious legitimacy in Aceh's plural legal system.
Drawing on Sampson and colleagues' racial inequality theories, we examine how referral and county characteristics affect the handling of juvenile court caseloads. Specifically, we use data from Mississippi Youth Courts for the years 2016 through 2021 to conduct two-level multinomial regression analyses examining the role of referral-level factors (e.g., youth demographic and offense characteristics) and county-level factors (e.g., court and community characteristics) on juvenile court intake decisions. Results showed that race influences intake decisions even after controlling for referral- and county-level factors. Contrary to Sampson and Laub's conflict perspective, which posited harsher treatment of Black youth, Black referrals were treated more leniently than White referrals in that the courts were more likely to take no action or to divert Black youth from formal case processing. Results suggest that courts may be correcting for policing and school practices that disproportionately affect youth of color and responding to caseload demands in a practical manner given resource constraints.
This study assesses the benefits of youth court participation for respondents, defendants, and peer volunteers, as well as barriers to implementation, recommendations to address the barriers, and resources necessary for the development and sustainability of youth courts. A mixed methods research design was employed using a quantitative survey (N = 53) and qualitative interviews (N = 31). Study participants included stakeholders with experience with school-based and/or community-based or justice-involved youth courts. Benefits to respondents and defendants reportedly include a reduction in suspensions/expulsions, and these youth turned their lives around. Benefits to peer volunteers span interpersonal and personal development. Barriers to implementation include buy-in from the school and juvenile justice system administrations and inconsistent administration of the courts, the need to address the youths' mental health issues, building cultural change from punishment to restorative justice, and territorial issues. The stakeholders offer recommendations and resources necessary to address the barriers uncovered. We interpret the findings within the context of the youth court literature and highlight next steps for moving forward with youth court development, sustainability, and effectiveness.
This paper investigates the extent and ways in which digital growth is embedded in regional economic and governance contexts that influence juvenile offending in Thailand from 2020 to 2024. It uses a balanced panel of 308 observations from 77 provinces and estimates a dynamic model using the 2-step System Generalized Method of Moments, accounting for endogeneity, unobserved heterogeneity, and dynamic persistence. Strikingly, the extent of the weighted age and shattered path dependence is considerably less for a substantially large portion. At the same time, cases agree that higher internet usage rates trigger more juvenile delinquency, leaving more digitally savvy youngsters alone without parents or guardians. Conversely, education is the most significant contributor to reducing youth crime. Moreover, per capita income has the exact opposite and insignificant effect once dynamic controls are in place. A positive sign indicates that the Integrity and Transparency Assessment is a favorable factor for the governance-reporting hypothesis. This hypothesis argues that bias detection is paramount when strong institutions are the base conditions, rather than incident reporting alone. Validity is a necessary component and includes numerous checks, such as alternative lag structures, one-step estimation, and diagnostic statistics to assess instrument validity. An immediate rallying behind its policies is needed, supported by innovations and by financing its programs to ensure sustainability and realization in the face of widespread, fast-track digitalization in the developing world.
This study examines the prevalence and interrelatedness of traditional and expanded adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among high-risk youth placed in secure care facilities in Korea. Extending prior research conducted primarily in Western contexts, this study incorporates an expanded ACE framework and focuses on a justice-involved population rarely examined in East Asian settings. The analysis explored how different forms of adversity co-occur and accumulate. Results showed that both traditional and expanded ACEs were highly prevalent, with most youth reporting multiple adversities. Logistic regression identified strong co-occurrence between specific ACE combinations, and linear regression showed that each ACE was significantly associated with elevated cumulative adversity. These findings highlight the extent to which adverse experiences co-occur and accumulate in this population and underscore the importance of ACE-informed assessments and interventions within the justice system.
Guardians ad Litem (GALs) are uniquely situated to support children's best interest in foster care. In Florida, GALs are volunteers drawn from the community who are mandated by the court to advocate for children but are not employed by the state or a private child welfare agency. GALs conduct home visits, provide recommendations supporting the child's best interest in court, and navigate relationships with the children they serve, their caseworkers, and other service providers. Despite the pertinent role child advocates play, there are several gaps in understanding their experiences or contributions to the child welfare system, particularly how GALs perceive and enact their work. The purpose of this research was to analyze GALs' perspectives of what it is like to work with youth who are in the foster care system in their own words to help enhance these relationships for GALs and youth in care. As a part of a larger qualitative study, this secondary analysis consisted of 555 GALs in the state of Florida who participated in an online survey. Inductive thematic analysis was used by two independent coders to elicit themes from the responses. Three overarching themes that emerged are as follows: (1) a multifaceted and dynamic sense of responsibility for children that we refer to as "stewardship"; (2) challenges to interacting and connecting with youth; and (3) the importance of teamwork or collaboration. Serving as a GAL is perceived by respondents as a challenging but rewarding endeavor that involves emotional investment, relationship management, and long-term commitments. Implications for future research, practice, training, and program administration are discussed for supporting the work of GALs within the child welfare system, as well as the well-being of children.
Despite their theoretical benefits on restoring youth, there are mixed results surrounding the effectiveness of teen courts in the literature. We acknowledge that the previously inconsistent and substantively small effects of teen court are at least in part due to methodological limitations in previous research designs examining this topic. In the form of a quasi-experimental research design, we examine every juvenile in North Carolina across every teen court in the state and other diversion programs as well as the comparable youth who entered the traditional justice system, totaling 6554 juveniles. We find that Teen Court has a statistically significant reductionary effect on recidivism when compared to the other processing alternatives. Teen court is not only a practicable alternative to traditional juvenile justice processes but also a more effective one in terms of its ability to reduce recidivism.
Military-connected survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking (DVSAS) encounter unique challenges that exacerbate trauma experiences as they navigate various support systems, including civilian and military court systems. Jurisdictional mazes, the stigma surrounding trauma-related conditions, and limitations and confusion on the enforcement of protective orders create significant barriers to accessing court systems and, ultimately, legal recourse. This article explores three priority areas for all criminal justice personnel to consider when working with military-connected survivors: unique barriers for military-connected survivors in court systems; PTSD stigma and the misuse of trauma in legal proceedings; and recommendations for education, policy reform, and survivor-centered approaches. Additionally, this article presents key insights from NOVA's Veteran Treatment Court (VTC) report (National Organization for Victim Advocacy, 2025) and listening sessions, illustrating how a deeper understanding of military-connected survivors' needs can enhance collaboration and improve services.
The purpose of this study is to understand how juvenile probation officers (JPOs) fulfill the “care” and “control” functions of their job when supervising a potentially vulnerable group of young people: pregnant and parenting teens. The results, derived from surveys administered to JPOs in a large county in Texas, indicate that many JPOs have pregnant and parenting teens on their caseloads. In working with these youth, the average JPO in this sample felt as if they got to know these youth quite well and were able to offer them a variety of services. They also largely handled violations of probation similarly for this group. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed.
The McMartin Preschool case in the 1980s was one of several alleged day care sex abuse cases that highlighted the need to establish best practices in forensic child interviews. As a result of that case, tens of millions of dollars were allocated to study and develop child interviewing techniques that were most likely to preserve the integrity of the accounts of children identified as possible victims and survivors of child abuse. That research led to the identification and standardization of the child forensic interviewing techniques widely used today. Despite the creation of best practices for child forensic interviews, courts sometimes accept as expert witnesses professionals who promote practices that should not be used when interviewing children who may have been victimized. A recent case in Canada underscores the critical need for awareness of best practices in child forensic interviews. This discussion article examines the dangers of viewing the lack of active hypothesis testing as a sign of poor interviewing.
Military installations function as complex jurisdictional enclaves where service members' children intermingle with civilian youth, creating a compelling national security interest in clearly defined authority over juvenile justice. This article, an excerpt of a larger corpus of research regarding jurisdictional transfers at military installations, examines the historical development and current challenges of establishing concurrent jurisdiction over juvenile matters on military installations, analyzing the unique classification of juvenile law and its impact on jurisdictional frameworks. Through analysis of federal and state legislation, court decisions, and practical implementation across all 50 states, this research identifies significant gaps in current juvenile justice frameworks on military installations. These ambiguities can result in juvenile cases being dismissed from state courts, even in states with concurrent jurisdiction over criminal matters. The article provides a model framework for establishing comprehensive concurrent juvenile jurisdiction, including specific recommendations for state legislative reform. Key elements include explicit inclusion of juvenile matters in jurisdictional statutes, clear definition of status offenses, precise description of jurisdictional boundaries, and authorization of intergovernmental agreements. This research contributes to ongoing Department of Defense efforts to remove barriers to juvenile justice on military installations while ensuring young people have access to appropriate rehabilitative services through state juvenile justice systems.
The connection between the Icelandic Barnahus model and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Convention), adopted in New York on November 20, 1989, is both significant and multifaceted. The Barnahus model, now widely adopted in numerous countries, represents an integrated approach tailored to address the needs of abused children and child witnesses of violent crimes (Under the federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), 42 U.S.C. 5106 g, child abuse is defined as any recent act or deliberate failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm. Child neglect, by contrast, refers to the chronic or severe failure of a parent or caretaker to provide for a child's basic physical, educational, medical, or emotional needs. See also Black's Law Dictionary, 11th ed. (2019), svv. abuse, neglect. State statutes may adopt broader or narrower formulations, but the two concepts remain legally distinct.). This model aligns closely with the Convention, which guarantees fundamental rights to children. Both the Barnahus model and the Convention (Article 3) prioritize the best interests of the child. The Convention guarantees children's protection from violence, abuse, and neglect (Article 19). Barnahus addresses abuse (affirmative harm) and neglect (failures of care) through distinct, child-centered responses. Article 13 of the Convention affirms children's right to freely express their views on matters affecting them, which the Barnahus model ensures through age-appropriate interviews and assessments (Article 12). Additionally, the model strengthens access to justice (Articles 3.1 and 40) by providing integrated services, including legal aid and support during criminal proceedings. In summary, the Barnahus model serves as a practical embodiment of the convention's principles, prioritizing children's rights and well-being while offering a cohesive approach to their protection. This study examines the Barnahus model in relation to key provisions of the convention, with a focus on the model's established standards.
An additional form of family violence that frequently is associated with juvenile and intimate partner violence and sexual assault is animal cruelty. While this dynamic is now well researched among civilian populations, it has not as yet been widely addressed in active and retired military communities where unique factors affecting service members, veterans, and their families may exacerbate the risks of interpersonal and interspecies violence. This article describes both the beneficial aspects of human-animal bonds and the adverse impacts of animal abuse among civilian, active, and veteran military service members and their families. It notes the U.S. military's limited responses to acts of animal cruelty and encourages military court judges, Family Advocacy Program centers, military veterinarians, and other stakeholders to gain more insights into both the beneficial aspects of human-animal bonds and the adverse impacts of animal abuse as a potential indicator and predictor of violence against humans. Increased awareness of the link between animal abuse and human violence can be relevant in preventing and responding to intimate partner violence, child maltreatment, and problematic juvenile behaviors in both civilian and military-connected families.
This paper explores the integration of Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) within the family court system, emphasizing the need for a paradigm shift that incorporates understanding and addressing trauma as a fundamental aspect of legal proceedings. The authors argue that the existing family law framework, often marked by adversarial processes, fails to recognize the pervasive impact of trauma on individuals involved in family court cases. The paper reviews the principles of TIC and their application in family courts, advocating for an approach that prioritizes safety, empowerment, collaboration, and trustworthiness. By aligning these principles with the concept of Therapeutic Jurisprudence, the paper suggests a more compassionate and effective legal system that not only addresses legal outcomes but also fosters the psychological well-being of those involved. The discussion includes practical recommendations for implementing TIC in family courts, highlighting the potential to reduce retraumatization and enhance the overall effectiveness of the court system in addressing complex family dynamics. The authors call for widespread training and education for legal professionals to ensure the successful adoption of trauma-informed practices, ultimately aiming to create a more empathetic and supportive environment within family courts.
Implementing best practices in child welfare court cases is critical to ensuring positive outcomes for youth and families. However, it is also essential that courts are assessed for their fidelity to implement these practices and whether they are having the intended impacts. This article outlines findings from a pre/post evaluation examining the impacts of the implementation of the Enhanced Resource Guidelines (ERGs) in three urban jurisdictions. The findings from this study yield valuable insights regarding the extent to which ERGs implementation positively impacts key outcomes in court practices and case processing. Implications for ongoing practice and future research are discussed.
This systematic review identified and analyzed literature focused on understanding child welfare judges' efforts to encourage parental engagement in taking steps that would strengthen their family and promote reunification. PRISMA guidelines were followed to identify, screen, and review the literature on judicial practices that promote parental engagement and reduce resistance in child welfare courts. A total of 347 studies were initially screened, with 17 meeting inclusion criteria. Widely agreed upon theoretical propositions on what judges can do to promote parental engagement are missing from the literature, as is research on what works. Furthermore, specific practice guidelines or actionable steps are scant. These gaps could set up a scenario where judicial quality varies because no consensus exists on best practices for engaging families. After reviewing the state of the literature, we offer some suggestions for moving forward, namely, working to establish a model of best practices that borrows from allied professions.
Child abuse is a pervasive form of gender-based violence that inflicts lasting trauma on its victims, their families, and their communities. Participation in the criminal legal system can exacerbate this trauma, particularly for children and youth experiencing intersecting and systemic inequalities. Trauma-informed practices have emerged as a framework for various systems to recognize the effects of trauma and adapt interactions to promote healing and reduce re-traumatization. This raises an overarching question of what the elements of a trauma-informed approach to child abuse in the criminal legal system are. This article synthesizes the state of the literature and current practices as they relate to trauma-informed approaches for children and youth victimized by child abuse who are engaged with the criminal legal system, focusing on the Canadian legal and policy context. We summarize the impact of legal system involvement for these children and youth and explore how trauma-informed approaches are conceptualized within the criminal legal system, including restorative and transformative justice approaches. We also identify core elements of trauma-informed approaches to the legal process in child abuse cases and the associated policy and practice implications for the criminal legal system. Lastly, we identify gaps in the literature and outline future directions and recommendations for research to expand knowledge and reduce system-induced trauma for these vulnerable young people.
Trauma‐informed care (TIC) has become a buzzword in many settings, including within and throughout the criminal legal system. Yet, studies show that while training and knowledge on TIC exist for justice workers, implementation is still greatly lacking. Additionally, as the U.S. found itself rapidly responding to a public health concern in 2020, courtrooms were not exempt. Many courtrooms across the U.S. then moved to a virtual setting in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic. Research and guidance on implementing TIC within virtual courtrooms were not well established at the time, and to this day, studies are still lacking in understanding best practices for TIC within virtual courtrooms and how these courts have since evolved. As such, the current study included courtroom observations within in‐person and virtual courtroom settings for one metropolitan judicial district within a Midwestern state. Using validated TIC courtroom rubrics, alongside field observations, a case study is provided, comparing TIC practices in both courtroom modalities. The results suggest a lack of TIC practices and procedures in both settings, with slightly more TIC adherence occurring within the virtual setting. These findings further add to the lacking literature on current virtual courtroom operations and provide insight into areas for improvement across all courtroom modalities.
Obergefell v. Hodges , 576 U.S. 644 (2015) appeared to settle certain issues in family law by allowing same gender individuals to marry. Unfortunately, Obergefell left some areas of inequality between same gender and heterogeneous households, including visitation and family support rights and obligations, especially rights outside of and before and after marriage. A non‐marrying biological parent, whose relationship one can prove via DNA, enjoys the right to start and maintain relationship with and parallel obligations of supporting biological children. Medicare, the local County Prosecutor's Office, and Friends of the Court work together to force support obligations upon non‐custodial, biological different gender parents. In distinct contrast, same gender parents not biologically related to a child face an uphill battle to establish legal rights and enforce support obligations on the biologically related custodial parents. It falls upon State courts, as exemplified by Michigan in this paper, to what degree, if at all, to uphold or ignore these rights and obligations, and court considerations may well ignore the “best interests of the child” in favor of other values. This paper proposes that through the doctrines of “de facto” parent and “parent by estoppel,” and, “equitable parent,” biologically unrelated same gender parents of non‐married couples or pre‐Obergefell parents can successfully assert and become subject to the normal bonds of parenthood, creating legal equality between them and DNA linked heterogeneous parents, so preserving the parent's liberty interest as well as the “best‐interests of the child.” This paper will examine this situation through looking at a single state, Michigan, and looking at an imaginary couple to explore the possible impact. This note will close with suggestions as how to build a more final solution to the issues here discussed. However, ultimately, only a Supreme Court decision or national or state law change in the law can resolve the legal inequality presented.
