Florida State University brings trauma science and resilience research into Florida courtrooms to support informed decision making

Tallahassee, Florida – Florida State University is working to bring trauma science and resilience research into courtrooms, with a new training program designed to help judges and other legal professionals better understand how traumatic experiences can affect people who enter the justice system.

The effort is being led by Mimi Graham, director of the FSU Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy, or CPEIP. The center has developed training that connects research about trauma, brain development, attachment and resilience with the practical decisions made every day in courts across Florida.

The initiative has gained attention as high-profile trials such as the Lindsay Clancy case have highlighted the difficult circumstances that can surround criminal proceedings. Such cases can affect not only defendants and families, but also jurors, judges, attorneys and court workers who are exposed to disturbing testimony and evidence.

Graham said trauma is not limited to people accused of crimes or involved in child welfare cases. She argues that the court system itself can become part of a person’s experience of trauma.

“Everybody coming to court has trauma,” Graham said. “If you don’t have trauma before you come into the court, what brings you into court is trauma, whether it’s the criminal court, or civil court, or dependency. All of them have the capacity to be therapeutic.”

The CPEIP course, “Trauma & Resilience Education for the Judiciary: Aligning What We Know With What We Do,” was recently launched as a free program for Florida professionals. It also provides continuing education credits.

The goal is to take scientific research and turn it into information that can be used in actual courtrooms. Rather than treating trauma as a separate medical or social issue, the program examines how knowledge about trauma can help inform communication, courtroom procedures and judicial decision making.

“We felt, as a university, it is appropriate to bring the science to the field and say, ‘Here it is, you can make better decisions when you know the science,’ Graham added.

The training is part of FSU Health, the university’s integrated health system, which combines health care, research, education and innovation.

A major part of Graham’s work focuses on the effects of early childhood experiences. Research in the field has shown that serious trauma during childhood can influence brain development, behavior and later involvement with the justice system.

Graham places particular importance on the first 1,000 days of life, beginning with prenatal development and continuing through a child’s first three years. During that period, much of the brain’s development takes place. She said that even when young children are too small to remember an adverse experience, their bodies can still carry its effects.

That research also informs work outside traditional courtrooms. Graham is involved with the FSU Young Parents Project, which provides intensive home visits, support for parents and children, trauma-informed care and connections to community resources.

The program works with expectant and parenting young people who are involved with courts across Florida. Its broader goal is to intervene early in the cycle that Graham describes as the trauma-to-prison pipeline.

The idea is that children who experience severe trauma can sometimes end up being punished or criminalized for behaviors connected to circumstances they have experienced, rather than receiving appropriate care and support.

Graham said courts can also unintentionally make traumatic experiences worse. She points to situations involving abrupt removal of children, repeated questioning of trafficking survivors, intimidating language and court procedures that leave children waiting for hours.

“There are ways that you can have trauma-informed courtrooms,” Graham said. “In every phase of the process, we have these things called ‘what harms’ and ‘what helps.’ What harms is kids in a waiting room with a hundred other people at the courthouse waiting all day for their turn. What helps is to have a specified time that is on the docket and a child-friendly waiting room where they can be called in and seen.”

One Florida program that Graham identifies as an example is Early Childhood Court, sometimes called baby court.

The specialized court is designed for infants and toddlers involved in the child welfare system because of abuse or neglect. Unlike a traditional adversarial proceeding, Early Childhood Court uses a problem-solving approach. Judges work with teams that can include community coordinators and infant mental health clinicians.

According to the latest data Graham cited, children participating in Early Childhood Court are 64% more likely to be reunified with a parent than children whose cases are handled outside the program.

The approach reflects the broader idea behind trauma-informed justice. Instead of focusing only on what happened and what punishment or legal response should follow, the model also considers the circumstances that may affect a person’s behavior, development and ability to participate in the court process.

The training also addresses the people who work inside the justice system. Difficult cases can take a toll on judges, jurors, attorneys and frontline court employees, particularly when proceedings involve graphic evidence or emotionally intense testimony.

The Lindsay Clancy trial serves as one example of the type of case that can expose everyone involved to traumatic material. Graham’s program includes a section devoted to judicial self-care, reflecting research about mental health concerns and suicides within the profession.

“Our organizations are not properly helping people that spend their days working and are exposed to traumatic events,” Graham said.

The issue extends beyond individual coping strategies. Graham’s work suggests that courts and other organizations also have a role in creating environments that recognize the effects of repeated exposure to traumatic events.

FSU’s effort therefore reaches beyond a single course or courtroom procedure. Through CPEIP, the university is connecting research on early childhood development, trauma and resilience with professionals who make decisions affecting children, families and defendants.

The initiative reflects a growing focus on how scientific knowledge can be incorporated into the justice system. For Florida court professionals taking part in the training, the aim is to understand the effects of trauma and use that knowledge in practical ways while carrying out their responsibilities.

By bringing researchers and court professionals together, FSU is seeking to turn decades of work on trauma and resilience into tools that can be used during real court proceedings. The university’s approach places particular attention on children and families, while also recognizing that judges and other professionals can be affected by the difficult cases they handle.

The result is an effort to make trauma and resilience part of the broader conversation about how Florida’s courts operate and how people experience the justice system.