Re(z)ilient Voices: Exploring Discrimination, Delinquency, and Historical Trauma Among Indigenous Youth

Limited criminal justice research focuses on the experiences of American Indians. This is also true for American Indian youth. To expand current scholarship, our research investigates the experiences of American Indian youth in the Southwestern United States to examine their experiences with discrimination and historical trauma. Existing scholarship suggests both are ubiquitous and overwhelming in the everyday lives of American Indians due in large part to ongoing settler colonial practices. Data were collected from a program evaluation of an education-based program for at-promise Indigenous youth. We examine the impact of discrimination and historical trauma with 75 American Indian youth between the ages of 11 to 18. Our findings show that the influence of discrimination and historical trauma are contingent on intersecting identities–young girls and first generation at-promise youth are at an increased risk for experiencing discrimination, historical trauma, and associated symptoms. We discuss implications, limitations, and directions for future research.