Using a Trauma-Informed Approach in Juvenile Justice Institutions

Society struggles with mistreated, acting-out youth, vacillating between offering help and punishing. The Supreme Court has recently considered issues of adolescence and brain development when reviewing youth sentences; however, sentencing goals remain a local policy decision. Traditionally, our juvenile justice system follows either a punitive or a mental health model. This article offers a trauma-informed model, arguing that it is consistent with the Supreme Court’s approach and with sentencing goals. It reviews how the trauma-informed model differs from the two previous models, why this is preferable, and how to implement the new model in juvenile justice settings.