Primer for Juvenile Court Judges: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Judicial Decision-Making for Newcomer Immigrant Youth in Juvenile Justice Proceedings
From the Executive Summary:
“This primer introduces key factors that juvenile court judges should consider in order to take a trauma-informed approach when “newcomer immigrant youth” come before them in juvenile justice cases. Created by attorneys and mental health experts on trauma, juvenile justice, and immigration, this primer is the product of the Center for Trauma and Juvenile Justice, the National Center for Youth Law, and the Refugee Trauma and Resilience Center, in consultation with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.
“Newcomer immigrant youth” refers to a subset of immigrant children, specifically, refugees, asylum seekers, and unaccompanied children. As newcomer immigrant youth travel to and arrive in the United States, they face significant adversity including violence, separation from loved ones, isolation, and acculturation challenges that are often traumatic (i.e., life threatening or life altering). These adverse experiences compound and exacerbate the negative effects of trauma experienced before migration to the United States.
As a result of their experiences, newcomer immigrant youth often live in survival mode in order to protect themselves and their families. Survival mode is a physical and mental adaptation that develops out of necessity to literally and emotionally survive. Youth do not choose to live in survival mode, it is an automatic adaptation. When in survival mode, youth may appear on-edge, distrustful, angry, impulsive, oppositional, or aggressive on the surface, but are really fearful, sad, or emotionally numb underneath. Ironically, chronically living in survival mode can reduce youths’ safety by leading them to engage in behaviors (“survival coping”) that increase conflict with peers and adults, interfere with learning and important decisions, isolate them from healthy relationships and make them vulnerable to exploitive relationships. All of these behaviors can ultimately bring them into contact with law enforcement and the juvenile justice system.
When newcomer immigrant youth come before the juvenile court, the judge may be the first adult who understands the impact that trauma has had on their lives. Fortunately, judges are in a position to assist these youth in taking the steps and accessing the resources necessary to break the vicious cycle caused by living in survival mode so that newcomer immigrant youth can thrive. Because trauma is an almost universal experience for justice-involved youth, breaking the cycle of trauma and escaping survival mode is the key to true rehabilitation for all youth who are involved in the juvenile justice system.1 It is critical that decision-makers, especially judges, are able to recognize the distinctive stressors and trauma that newcomer immigrant youth experience, and respond accordingly.
This primer is intended to assist judges in recognizing the behavioral, social, and educational challenges that many newcomer immigrant youth experience as a result of trauma and having to adopt survival coping as a way of life. Further, this primer provides guidance regarding the types of services and judicial orders that can best support these youths in successfully resolving the legal, educational, and psychosocial problems that have brought them before the juvenile court.”
