Research Initiatives
The Institute and its research team have engaged in three primary approaches to investigate trauma-informed practices in the courts: (1) surveying judges about their attitudes about trauma and their response to trauma education; (2) observing judges to see how the engage with trauma-informed practices in court; and (3) surveying attorneys and children about their experience of court and potential judge influence. Below is a list of our publications and a brief summary of our findings. If no link is provided, a full text is available upon request to amelia.thorn@law.duke.edu.
What do judges think of a pilot education course on trauma?
Trauma-Informed Judicial Practice from the Judges’ Perspective explores their feedback, as well as an in-depth investigation of the pilot group’s views on how to make judicial practice more trauma-informed. Among other findings, the article highlights eleven content and structural recommendations for future programs: focus on practicality, incorporate data into trainings, include messaging on what it means to be a judge, supplement trainings with educational resources, remember the adult population, provide information on vicarious trauma, consider availability of resources faced by training participants, form diverse training teams, train all court professionals, provide independent and collaborative training sessions, and ensure trainings are in-person and interactive. Judges also offered perspectives on the core components of a trauma-informed courtroom and barriers to implementation.
McKinsey, E., Zottola, S., Mitchell, A., Heinen, M., Ellmaker, L., Trauma-Informed Judicial Practice from the Judges’ Perspective, 106 Judicature No. 2 (2022).
What do judges think of a new judges orientation course on trauma?
Measuring the impact of a trauma education program for new judges in North Carolina describes the first-ever new judges orientation course in the state focused on trauma and trauma-informed courts before going on to examine effects of the program on judge attendees. Findings show a slight increase in favorable attitudes towards trauma-informed care following the course, high ratings of effectiveness and relevance for each course session, and small positive attitudinal shifts when it comes toward views about barriers to implementing trauma-informed practices. Generally positive attitude shifts pre- to post-training, along with the highly favorable ratings of the sessions themselves, suggest similar programs may continue to move the needle on TIC in the courtroom.
Ebani Dhawan, Cassie Ameen, Tess Bierly, Emily Fung, Amelia Thorn, and Eva McKinsey, Measuring the impact of a trauma education program for new judges in North Carolina (2023).
To what extent do judges identify with themes of a trauma-informed approach?
Applying a trauma-informed care framework to courtroom practice: An analysis of judges’ perspectives stems from in-depth interviews with judges who participated in our pilot trauma education program back in 2021. A couple of months after the program, we followed up with them to ask about implementation of practices in their own courtrooms and how they felt about the course and trauma more generally. In the paper, we talk about the extent to which judges identified during our conversation various themes that are generally recognized as part of a trauma-informed approach. Some themes came up more than others (e.g., a lot on collaboration; less on cultural, historical, and gender issues); some themes came up not at all (i.e., peer support); and in some cases judges identified themes different from those included in a well-established trauma-informed care framework (i.e., rehabilitation and healing).
McKinsey, E., Heinen, M., Zottola, S. A., Ellmaker, L. & Thorn, A., Applying a trauma-informed care framework to courtroom practice: An analysis of judges’ perspectives. Juvenile & Family Court Journal, 75, 5–21 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1111/jfcj.12267
What are judges attitudes toward trauma?
Judges’ Attitudes and Experiences Related to a Trauma-Informed Approach: An Exploratory Study draws from a survey of 91 district court judges in NC on their self-reported attitudes about trauma and trauma-informed care. Interestingly, though maybe not surprisingly, juvenile judges had more favorable attitudes toward a trauma-informed approach and greater engagement with those practices (and favorable attitudes were correlated with more support for rehabilitation as a principle). Judges self-reported least engagement with trauma-informed policies and procedures. Note that one of our upcoming papers will discuss how that seems to be the kind of engagement that matters to people.
McKinsey, E., Thorn, A., Kim, M. K., Hanson, K., Lamb, R., Brockelman, N. A., Lawrence, S. K., & Ravi, S., Judges’ attitudes and experiences related to a trauma-informed approach: An exploratory study. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy (2024).
How do judges behave in court?
Implementation of practices deemed trauma-informed in juvenile court presents findings from our observations of 201 juvenile court hearings overseen by 16 judges. While observing, we examined the presence of over 60 trauma-informed practices (TIPs) related to the environment, judges’ policies/activities, and judge behavior. We found that while judges were relatively highly engaged in practices related to communication and transparency, they were generally unengaged in practices related to decision-making (including sentencing) and practices related to acknowledging contextual factors contributing to youths’ court involvement. We also analyzed whether judges’ engagement with TIPs depended on case-, judge-, and youth-related factors, finding that judges generally implemented TIPs equitably across examined factors. However, between-judge variability in some categories suggests youths’ court experiences largely depend on the judge to whom they are assigned.
McKinsey, E., Lamb, R., Thorn, A., Davis, G. F., Allen, L. A., Herndon, A. E., Sidharth, R., Terry, J. E., & Bierly, T, Implementation of practices deemed trauma-informed in juvenile court. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 1–27 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2024.2421172
What judge behaviors might influence youth experiences in court?
Trauma-Informed Courts?: How Judges May Influence Kids’ Experiences of Court discusses findings from our qualitative analysis of survey responses of 54 court personnel (juvenile defenders and juvenile court counselors) about the experiences of court-involved youth (i.e., juveniles) and judicial influence on that experience to assess extent to which youths’ experiences and judges’ behaviors described by court personnel did (and did not) reflect a trauma-informed approach. Central to our findings was that court personnel most commonly referenced the negative impacts that court involvement can have on youth (e.g., decreased self-worth, increased anxiety, and exacerbated mental health issues); less frequently describing positive impacts of court (e.g., court involvement leading to connection to services) or neutral impacts (e.g., court not greatly affecting youth).
McKinsey, E., Thorn, A., Kim, M. K., & Gorey, C., Trauma-Informed Courts?: How Judges May Influence Kids’ Experiences of Court, 108 Judicature No. 3 (2025).
Exploring Youths’ and Court Personnel’s Perceptions of Court and their Association with Judge Engagement with Trauma Informed Practices reports quantitative findings from surveys of court-involved youth, juvenile defenders, and juvenile court counselors about various outcomes related to youths’ court involvement. Linkage of survey data to court observation data allowed for novel analyses examining the association between youth experience and judge engagement with trauma-informed practices (TIPs) in court. Findings suggest a positive influence of courtroom policy/activity-related TIPs on perceived procedural justice for youth but a more complicated, potentially negative, influence of judge engagement with TIPs related to youth interactions and exploring the “bigger picture” of a youth’s court involvement.
McKinsey, E., Thorn, A., Kim, M. K., Lamb, R., Milberg, A., Fung, E. Y., Hanson, K., Ameen, C., Lavi, H. (2025), Exploring Youths’ and Court Personnel’s Perceptions of Court and their Association with Judge Engagement with Trauma Informed Practices, forthcoming in International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice (2025). https://doi.org/10.1080/01924036.2025.2497365 © 2025 School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University.
Research Team
Amelia Thorn served as the administrative lead on the project. Dr. Eva McKinsey, a social and community psychologist whose work focuses on trauma-informed practice in the criminal legal context, served as the primary research consultant on the project. She has served as a trainer and consultant for various educational programs as well.
Research was also supported by a dedicated team of students working under a grant from Duke’s Bass Connections, a program that allows an interdisciplinary team of undergraduate and graduate students to work with professors on cutting-edge, socially oriented research projects.