Impact of Growth Mindset-Enhanced Trauma Education on Criminal Legal Professionals’ Attitudes and Perceptions

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00938548221143529
• Published date: 01 April 2023
• Date: 01 April 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2023, Vol. 50, No. 4, April 2023, 578 –599.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548221143529

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© 2023 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

578

IMPACT OF GROWTH MINDSET-ENHANCED

TRAUMA EDUCATION ON CRIMINAL LEGAL

PROFESSIONALS’ ATTITUDES AND

PERCEPTIONS

EVA MCKINSEY

North Carolina State University

SARAH L. DESMARAIS

Policy Research Associates, Inc.

Addressing mass incarceration in the United States will require criminal legal professionals to shift away from carceral pun-

ishment and toward alternative approaches to justice. Education on the physiological, social, and behavioral impacts of

traumatic events (i.e., trauma education), especially when enhanced with messaging about the malleability of behavior (i.e.,

growth mindset intervention), may help promote this shift. We assessed the impact of trauma education alone and enhanced

with a growth mindset intervention on 344 U.S.-based criminal legal professionals’ attitudes about the criminal legal system

and perceptions of trauma-informed judicial practice, and assessed whether profession type moderated intervention impact.

Compared with trauma education alone, mindset-enhanced trauma education led to increased perceived appropriateness of

considering trauma in judicial decision-making (main effect) and greater support of alternative sentencing for nonviolent

crimes among lawyers and judges (moderation effect). Although effects were small, findings support the enhancement of

trauma education with growth mindset interventions.

Keywords: trauma education; criminal legal system; growth mindsets; attitudes; perceptions; alternative sentencing

Many stakeholders, including practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and advo-

cates, increasingly acknowledge that understanding the physiological, social, and

behavioral impacts of traumatic events (i.e., trauma education) has the potential to lead to

more informed and effective outcomes and interactions for people involved in the crimi-

nal legal system (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

[SAMHSA], 2013). Consequently, trauma education is being promoted from the federal

AUTHORS’ NOTE: The research was conducted in compliance with APA ethical principles and North

Carolina State University’s Institutional Review Board, and no authors report a conflict of interest. The

research was funded by the AP-LS Research Grant Initiative to Enhance the Impact and Diversification of

Psychology and Law Research. This manuscript has not been published elsewhere nor submitted simultane-

ously for publication elsewhere. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Eva McKinsey,

1 Edgedale Dr., Asheville, NC 28804; e-mail: eva.mckinsey@duke.edu.

1143529CJBXXX10.1177/00938548221143529Criminal Justice and BehaviorMcKinsey and Desmarais / Growth Mindset-Enhanced Trauma Education

research-article2023

McKinsey and Desmarais / GROWTH MINDSET-ENHANCED TRAUMA EDUCATION 579

to state to local level across the United States (see Finkel, 2014; National Council of

Juvenile and Family Court Judges [NCJFCJ], n.d.; SAMHSA, 2013). Many stakeholders

also agree about the need to reduce reliance on carceral punishment in the United States,

as research and personal accounts demonstrate the ineffectiveness and injustices of retri-

bution and incarceration (Andrews & Bonta, 2010; Loeffler & Nagin, 2022; National

Research Council, 2014). The present study considers how trauma education may play a

role in reducing mass incarceration. Specifically, this study builds upon our prior work

exploring the potential for trauma education and growth mindset messaging to lead to less

punitive attitudes and beliefs (McKinsey et al., 2022). To do so, we compare the impact

of two trauma education curricula—one based on standard trauma education program-

ming and the other enhanced with a growth mindset intervention—on relevant attitudes

and perceptions of criminal legal professionals. Because criminal legal professionals in

different roles often express varying concerns and perspectives (see DeMichele et al.,

2018; Lowder et al., 2019), we also assess whether profession type moderates the effects

of trauma education on attitudes and perceptions.

TRAUMA EDUCATION IN THE CRIMINAL LEGAL CONTEXT

Decades of research demonstrate the adverse effects that traumatic experiences can have

on brain and behavior development (Kim & Choi, 2020; McCord, 1983), the connections

between trauma and engagement in violent and criminalized behavior (Dias de Castro Bins

et al., 2020; Fox et al., 2015; Kar, 2019), and the high prevalence of trauma among individu-

als involved in the criminal legal system (Dierkhising et al., 2013). As such, trauma educa-

tion has become a relatively common component of training for criminal legal professionals

over the past decade or so (Marsh & Byer, 2013). Furthermore, the perceived need for and

acceptability of such training among criminal legal professionals appears to be increasing.

To demonstrate, a recent survey of 250 respondents who held a range of roles within judi-

cial education (e.g., judicial educator, consultant) found that the vast majority (74.6%)

viewed trauma education as an important topic in judicial education at large (Marsh, 2019).

As another example, a systematic review of 10 publications on trauma-informed care in the

juvenile justice system found that staff training on trauma was a core element of trauma-

informed care and that the consequences of trauma on youth development and behavior

were one of the most frequently recommended topics for training (Branson et al., 2017).

Despite its growing presence, little is known about the impact of trauma education in the

criminal legal context generally and even less regarding its impact on criminal legal profes-

sionals, in particular. Indeed, most research in this area has examined impacts of trauma-

informed interventions in the criminal legal context directed at people who are

justice-involved and has focused on the downstream or indirect effects of these interven-

tions. These studies have shown promising results, finding reduced recidivism and perpe-

tration of violent behavior among youth in juvenile detention centers (Baetz et al., 2021;

Zettler, 2020), and decreased posttraumatic stress disorder symptomology among women

who are incarcerated (King, 2017). Other research examining specialized courts that inte-

grate trauma-specific services (e.g., trauma treatment in drug courts) has also shown posi-

tive outcomes among clients, such as reduced recidivism (e.g., Brown et al., 2015). However,

these findings do not speak to the impact of trauma education on the attitudes, perceptions,

and behaviors of the people who participate in training.