Connecting Childhood Trauma to Delinquency - Adverse Childhood Experiences and the U.S. Justice System

Claire Moustafellos and Anne Holsinger (2025) state that “Adverse child­hood expe­ri­ences (ACEs) refer to poten­tial­ly trau­mat­ic events and cir­cum­stances that impair an individual’s sense of safe­ty and sta­bil­i­ty dur­ing child­hood (0 – 17 years).”

These expe­ri­ences may include the following:

• Abuse (phys­i­cal, emo­tion­al, or sex­u­al)

• Wit­ness­ing vio­lence with­in the fam­i­ly or com­mu­ni­ty

• House­hold insta­bil­i­ty (incar­cer­a­tion of fam­i­ly mem­bers, parental sep­a­ra­tion, sub­stance use or men­tal health prob­lems).

These researchers (Moustafellos & Holsigner) argue the there is a “grow­ing con­cern in pol­i­cy con­ver­sa­tions and psy­cho­log­i­cal research because of the life­time impact of ACEs on neu­ro­log­i­cal devel­op­ment, man­i­fest­ing in the preva­lence of var­i­ous neg­a­tive men­tal health out­comes. Research also indi­cates that expo­sure to ACEs increas­es an individual’s like­li­hood of criminal activity.”

In their article Adverse Childhood Experiences, Their Effects on Mental Health, and the Connection to Legal System Involvement and Death Penalty Information Center, they also state that “A DPI analy­sis found that severe child­hood trau­ma was evi­dent in 71 of the 95 peo­ple exe­cut­ed (75%) between 2020 – 2024, and 32 of those with trau­ma were under the age of 25 at the time of the crime that led to their death sentence.”

Blog Prompt: If childhood trauma has such great effects of childhood delinquency and adult criminal activity, are we doing enough to educate youth professional workers about childhood trauma and are we providing enough trauma-informed training for those involved with youth? Comment your response below.