Exploring the Gendered Nature and Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences, Developmental Trauma, and Complex Trauma in a Sample of Justice-Involved Youth

In Canada, under Section 34 of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), courts can order psychological assessments for high-risk youth to aid in informed sentencing and rehabilitation decisions. Clinical files prepared by a youth justice clinic to inform Section 34 reports for 1205 youth charged with serious offences will be used to examine the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), developmental trauma, and complex trauma. Additionally, we will investigate gender differences in the presence of adversity and trauma within the sample. We hypothesize that the accumulation of ACEs, developmental trauma, and complex trauma will increase the likelihood of youth criminal behavior. This hypothesis aligns with previous literature, which has shown that ACEs may not fully capture the extent of adversities experienced by youth, implicating developmental and complex trauma in crime trajectories as well. Our preliminary analysis of a subset of the sample reveals high levels of ACEs, with parental divorce being most frequently reported. While females generally reported higher victimization rates, significant victimization is observed across genders. Currently, manual coding of clinical notes used to inform Section 34 assessments is underway, spearheaded by a collaborative effort between students from Carleton University and the University of Toronto. We anticipate that our findings will illuminate the co-occurrence of ACEs, developmental trauma, and complex trauma within this sample, shedding light on their contributions to criminal behavior. Moreover, we hope that our study will offer insights into how these adversities can be mitigated by identifying individual strengths that increase the likelihood of crime desistance.