Florida State University brings trauma science, resilience research into Florida courtrooms

The Lindsay Clancy trial was the latest high-profile case that affected defendants, families, jurors, judges and the professionals charged with administering justice.

At Florida State University, Mimi Graham, director of the FSU Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy (CPEIP), is leading an effort to bring trauma science directly into judicial practice. Through CPEIP, FSU has developed training to help judges and court professionals better understand how trauma can shape behavior, decision making and courtroom experiences.

“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 course, “Trauma & Resilience Education for the Judiciary: Aligning What We Know With What We Do,” integrates brain science, attachment science, trauma research and resilience science into judicial practice. The recently launched program is free for Florida professionals and offers continuing education credits, with the goal of translating research into practical tools for courtroom decision making.

The initiative is part of FSU Health, the university’s integrated health system that brings together hospitals, physicians, clinics, research, education and innovation to improve the health of the communities FSU serves.

“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.

“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.’”

– Mimi Graham, director of the FSU Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy

The work is grounded in research showing that early trauma can affect brain development, behavior and later involvement in the court system. Graham said the first 1,000 days, from prenatal development to age 3, are especially critical because much of the brain develops during that period. Even when children are too young to remember adverse experiences, she said, their bodies can carry the effects.

Graham’s work also extends beyond the courtroom. She is part of the FSU Young Parents Project, which provides intensive home visiting, parent-child support, trauma-informed care and resource coordination for court-involved expectant and parenting youth across Florida. The project is aimed at interrupting what Graham describes as the trauma-to-prison pipeline, in which children and youth who experience severe early-life trauma are punished or criminalized instead of receiving care and support.

In the courtroom, Graham said trauma-informed practices can change both communication and outcomes. She has seen practices, such as abrupt child removals, repeated questioning of trafficking survivors, intimidating language and courtroom logistics that keep children waiting for hours further compound the harm people have already experienced.

“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.”

Graham points to Florida’s Early Childhood Court, also known as baby court, as an example of a trauma-informed approach in action. The non-adversarial, problem-solving court serves infants and toddlers involved in the child welfare system because of abuse or neglect. Specialized judges work with multidisciplinary teams that include community coordinators and infant mental health clinicians.

Graham said the latest data available to her show that children in Early Childhood Court are 64% more likely to be reunified with a parent than children whose cases are handled outside the program.

Trauma-informed training also recognizes the toll that difficult cases, like the Lindsay Clancy trial, can take on those inside the courtroom. Graphic testimony and evidence can affect jurors, judges and frontline workers, Graham said, making self-care and organizational support a necessary part of administering justice.

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One chapter in the CPEIP training focuses on judicial self-care, a response to research showing rising 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.

As trauma continues to shape what happens in courtrooms, FSU is positioning itself as a national leader in trauma-informed justice by translating decades of research into practical tools that can change how judges, attorneys and court professionals understand the people who come before them. Through CPEIP’s work, FSU is helping move the justice system beyond reaction and punishment toward a model grounded in science, resilience and healing.