We support all juvenile criminal justice reform bills!

Comments Document

Shared Hope International is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing, restoring, and bringing justice to survivors of child and youth sex trafficking. Shared Hope has been working in Virginia, across the country, and throughout the globe for over 20 years to guide and support appropriate responses to protect survivors, hold offenders to account, and ultimately prevent the crime entirely. While ideally we would like to see these victims kept out of any punitive system and met with a protective—rather than punitive—response, we support this bill as a step in the right direction and support this bill. Too often, the criminal legal system fails to respond in a trauma-informed and age-appropriate way to children who engage in delinquent or criminal conduct. The vast majority of children involved in the criminal legal system are contending with early childhood trauma and unmitigated Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), including psychological, physical, and/or sexual abuse; witnessing domestic violence; living with family members who are substance abusers, suffer from mental illness or suicidal ideation, or are incarcerated. Studies have shown that approximately 90 percent of children in the juvenile justice system have experienced at least two ACEs, and 27 percent of boys and 45 percent of girls have experienced at least five ACEs. HB 268 helps Virginia align with the human rights principles to foster the physical, psychological, and social recovery of child survivors of abuse and exploitation. By keeping child victims who defend themselves against their abusers in the juvenile justice system—instead of transferring them to adult courts—youth will be afforded a more individualized and rehabilitative response, and a better opportunity to make a life for themselves after the trauma of sexual abuse.

Comments Document

I am writing in support of HB268 as an important step towards recognizing minors as victims and not criminals in these cases. As a clinical psychologist I have had longstanding concerns about the impact on minors when their victimization and resulting responses to it are perceived as criminal acts. The psychological damage done to minors when this kind of victim blaming occurs only serves to increase the depth and complexity of the trauma they must already bear as a result of the original abuse. When someone experiences a traumatic experience such as the violations involved with trafficking, sexual abuse and/or rape the most common responses the body will employ are known as the 4F's (fight, flight, freeze & fawn.) Sometimes individuals instinctually employ one of the last three of these by trying to flee their abuser when possible, freezing which often also includes feeling numb or dissociating from the moment, or fawning which refers to trying to placate or please their abuser. It is possible that a juvenile defendant could commit and alleged offense as a result of one of these responses. It is even more likely however that the self-explanatory fight response to trauma could understandably result in behavior that could be brought before the court as an alleged offense. All four of these are predictable human responses to traumatic experiences and the most appropriate response is for trauma victims to be offered treatment and services rather than a punitive response. I support this bill as written given that it is an important step towards providing essential care to child victims, yet I am also urging members to consider the following amendments. Where I would differ with this bill as written is that the most advantageous place for treatment and services to occur is not within the juvenile justice system, but rather a more trauma informed therapeutic environment such as a specialized treatment program. A social services response that diverts a child victim away from the juvenile justice system entirely would send a much clearer message to child victims that what happened was not their fault and that they are not being penalized for protecting themselves from their abuser.