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

AuthorKeith R. Cruise,Michael L. Howard,Isaiah B. Pickens,Jane Halladay‐Goldman,Kate R. Watson
Date01 June 2019
Published date01 June 2019
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/jfcj.12135
Development and Pilot of the National Child
Traumatic Stress Network Trauma-Informed
Juvenile Court Self-Assessment
By Isaiah B. Pickens, Michael L. Howard, Jane Halladay-Goldman,
Keith R. Cruise, and Kate R. Watson
ABSTRACT
Trauma-informed practices in the juvenile justice system are increasingly recognized
as effective for promoting public safety through case management, rehabilitation, and treat-
ment that is responsive to a traumatic event exposure and current trauma reactions. As court
systems explore integration of trauma-informed practices, tools for identifying best practices
and strategically implementing trauma-informed approaches are integral for judges and
court administrators aiming to develop trauma-informed courts. The current paper reviews
the National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s development of the Trauma-Informed
Juvenile Court Self-Assessment (TI-JCSA). Implications for self-guided strategies to shift
court practices and policies to align with trauma-informed approaches will be discussed.
Key words: trauma, self-assessment, essential elements, strategic planning.
Isaiah B. Pickens, Ph.D., is Assistant Director of the Service Systems program at the National Cen-
ter for Child Traumatic Stress (NCCTS), the coordinating site of the National Child Traumatic Stress Net-
work (NCTSN). In this role he is responsible for supporting diverse national, cross-disciplinary, and
collaborative efforts to make child- and family- service systems more trauma-informed.
Judge Michael L. Howard retired from Stark County Family Court in Stark County, Ohio in 2016
after serving the court for thirty years as an intake office, clerk and bailiff, chief magistrate, and, for the final
twelve years, as judge. Judge Howard continues to volunteer for community initiatives that prevent delin-
quency and build resilient youth. Judge Howard serves on the Advisory Boards of the National Child Trau-
matic Stress Network, the Center for Resilient Families, and the National Native Children’s Trauma Center.
Jane Halladay Goldman, Ph.D., is the Director of the Service Systems program at the National
Center for Child Traumatic Stress (NCCTS), the coordinating site of the National Child Traumatic Stress
Network (NCTSN). In this role she is responsible for supporting diverse national, cross-disciplinary, and
collaborative efforts to make child- and family- service systems more trauma-informed.
KeithR.Cruise,Ph.D,M.L.S.,is a Professor in theDepartment of Psychologyat Fordham University
where he also serves as the Director of Clinical Training for the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program. He is
an Adjunct Professor of Law at Fordham Law School and is Co-Director of the Center for Trauma Recovery and
Juvenile Justice, a technical assistancecenter funded throughthe National Child Traumatic Stress Network.
Kate R. Watson, MSW, is a graduate student at the University of California-Los Angeles Luskin
School of Public Affairs and intern at the UCLA National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.
Juvenile and Family Court Journal 70, No. 2
©2019 National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
31
The impact of traumatic events on the lives of youth involved with the justice sys-
tem has gained increased attention during the past decade as justice professionals under-
standing of traumatic stress responses has expanded (Listenbee et al., 2012). These
traumatic stress reactions have significant implications for whether youth interface with
the justice system, penetrate deeper if presently justice-involved, and navigate their com-
munities following release from justice settings. The current paper reviews the broader
context which has contributed to the development of trauma-informed courts and intro-
duces a court self-assessment tool that will facilitate courts integrating trauma-informed
practices into current processes and procedures. The Trauma-Informed Juvenile Court-
Self-Assessment (TI-JCSA: Cruise, Howard, Pickens & Halladay-Goldman, 2019) repre-
sents a collaborative effort between the National Child Traumatic Stress Network
(NCTSN) and the National Council for Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ).
The TI-JCSA is grounded in the eight Essential Elements of a Trauma-Informed Juvenile Jus-
tice System (NCTSN, 2015) and provides courts with a framework to examine, review and
rate day-to-day court operations on a series of benchmarks to evaluate the extent to which
court operations reflect essential elements of trauma-informed care as applied to juvenile
courts. The TI-JCSA provides guidance on a series of process-oriented tasks including:
(1) forming a self-assessment team, (2) conducting the self-assessment/rating element
benchmarks, (3) reviewing the self-assessment element summary ratings, and (4) devel-
oping a plan for system improvement. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of
the TI-JCSA. First, the broader context contributing to the initial development is pro-
vided. Second, an overview of the TI-JCSA is provided. Third, the results of a two-phase
pilot involving feedback from three different juvenile courts is highlighted. Finally,
implications for use of the TI-JCSA and future directions are reviewed.
Trauma and Youth Offenders
The majority of youth who encounter the juvenile justice system report extensive
trauma histories (Abram et al., 2004; Dierkhising et al., 2013; Ford, Elhai, Connor, &
Frueh, 2010). Traumatic event exposure can shape how youth navigate their communi-
ties given these events frequently involve experiences of victimization. Across a multi-
state sample of youth receiving services, the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress
found that, on average, justice-involved youth had experienced 4.9 distinct types of life-
time traumatic event exposures and, for one-third of these youth, their first traumatic
event exposure occurred in the first year of life (Dierkhising et al., 2013). These findings
match earlier studies suggesting that more than four of every five justice-involved youth
are exposed to multiple early traumatic events (Abram et al., 2004), three-quarters expe-
rience interpersonal traumatic events reflecting significant victimization (Ford, Chap-
man, Mack, & Pearson, 2006), and as many as one-third suffer multiple traumatic
victimizations, or polyvictimization (Ford et al., 2010). Common types of traumatic
event exposures endorsed by juvenile justice-involved youth include: experiencing and
witnessing family violence, experiencing and witnessing community violence, emotional
abuse, physical abuse, and traumatic loss/separation (see Dierkhising et al., 2013). A
unifying theme is the interpersonal nature of these events that reflects a sense of personal
32 | JUVENILE AND FAMILY COURT JOURNAL

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