A Trauma-Informed Approach to Innocence Investigations

A Trauma-Informed Approach to Innocence Investigations Presented by: Mrs. Paul Date: March 12, 2025 Objectives - Define trauma-informed practices in the context of investigating innocence claims. - Discuss the process of developing a victim services program and understand the challenges and benefits to having an in-house services program. - Discuss how investigative staff are impacted by an in-house victim services program. - Review relevant trauma concepts and available resources. Compounding Waves of Harm - Estimate of trauma in justice-involved population: 96 percent of women and 89 percent of men had experienced trauma. - Crime victim, family, and community must grapple with violence of crime and face the difficult task of recovering. - In wrongful conviction cases, an individual is kidnapped from their life and suffers the immense loss of freedom and life experiences during incarceration. - When exoneration occurs, the exoneree, victim, families, and community must grapple with the legacy of a miscarriage of justice. Crime Victims' Voices: The Impact of Exoneration - Irazola, S., Williamson, E., and Stricker, J. et al (2013) Study of Victim Experiences of Wrongful Conviction, Fairfax, VA: ICF International. • "It was harder going through the revictimization than it was through the rape...Now you have the same feelings of that pain. You have the same scariness. You have the same fear. You have the same panic, but now you have this flood of guilt." - Healing Justice (2020) Telling My Story. Available at: https://vimeo.com/390017956 (Accessed: August 30, 2022) • "I was scared to look out the door. I was scared for someone to come to the door... because now who I thought was the bad guy - it wasn't him. My bad guy didn't have a face so I didn't know who it could be." Exonerees' Voices: Life After Release - "I was one of those individuals...that I thought I was maintaining my sanity, I discovered and realized that you could lose your marbles about something that happened two hours ago. You might think I thought I was crazy, but that didn't make sense, it didn't add up. It might not be about a situation that happened ten, fifteen minutes ago. It might be about a situation that happened ten or twenty years ago and it just came back to me." - "On the surface everything was fine. I was working, taking care of my kids, and figuring it out. But on the inside there was a restlessness that started to build, and that's the piece of it- you think you're doing okay and then all of a sudden something happens and you realize you're really not... And I kept telling myself I was ok. How could I not be now that I was out... It continued to get worse and worse, and I kept trying to extinguish it by drinking, having fun, and staying busy that I didn't give myself time. I was exhausted." How Do We Limit Harm? The Four Rs of Trauma-Informed Care - Realize • Realize the widespread impact of trauma and understand potential paths for recovery - Recognize • Recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients, families, staff, and others involved with the system - Respond • Respond by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices - Resist Re-traumatization • Resist re-traumatization of children, as well as the adults who care for them Defining "Trauma-Informed Practices" In The Innocence Investigation Context: - Recognize how trauma impacts defendants, witnesses, victims, and staff. - Develop policies and procedures that mandate a compassionate approach to defendants, witnesses, and victims. - Prepare staff for the emotional and mental challenges of reviewing cases and claims. - Arm staff with tools that build competency around handling difficult and sensitive interactions. Briefly - Trauma's Impact on the Brain - LIMBIC SYSTEM • - BRAINSTEM • - Responsible for emotions and detecting danger. Controls body regulation processes (eating, sleeping and temperature). PREFRONTAL CORTEX • Responsible for cognitive function (thinking, problem solving etc.). From Traumatic Event to Traumatized - Trauma: "an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening." – SAMHSA - How has this event continued to disrupt normal functioning? - What does that disruption look like? Symptoms of Trauma - Hypervigilance -a constant state of alert, feeling on edge - Intrusive thoughts, nightmares, flashbacks - Difficulty concentrating - Irritability and mood swings - Withdrawing from others - Sadness and hopelessness - Feeling numb and disconnected avoidance and disassociation Trauma and Memory - Sensory information is constantly analyzed by our limbic system. - Limbic system interprets this data and either makes us consciously aware of it or sounds the alarm (amygdala). - When we are overwhelmed or threatened, processing by the limbic system breaks down. Traumatized Memory - Sights, sounds, smells are encoded as isolated, dissociated fragments - Perception of time is altered The Commission's Victim Services Program - The impetus: • Increased victim attendance to Commission hearings, difficult interactions between victims and the media • → Leadership recognized the need for a dedicated position to provide information and support to crime victims. - Goal: increase "meaningful participation" for crime victims. - Original limits: could not provide services to exonerees. The funding source did not recognize exonerees as "victims." The First Questions the VSP Had to Answer - Identifying victims: • - - Who counts as a victim? Who receives services? Victim Notification: • When should we notify victims? • Under what circumstances? • Who will be notified? Investigation: • Will trauma-informed practices limit investigations? Trauma-Informed at the Commission Means... - - Create a sense of safety • Discuss how you are going to maintain privacy. • Discuss the safety of the interview setting. Provide choices • - For interviews, schedule at time and location of someone's choosing. Make connections • Remind people that they are not alone, and that while this experience is unique, services are available. Victim Services - Practices and Policies - Victim Notification Policy: • Crime victims will receive timely notification from a trained victim advocate. • Victims are provided complete information about next steps at notification. • Victims are provided information about resources and services available to them. - Trauma-Informed Interviewing Practices: • Staff receives extension training on trauma-informed interviewing. • Whenever possible, victims and witnesses determine the location and time of the interview. • Investigators use subject's preferred language (i.e. name of victim, description of the crime.) Notification Policy in Action - Case review - Identify significant dates - Seek to understand familial relationships - Identify secondary victims Interaction Between Victim Services and Investigators - Mapping out investigation's impact within a community: • How are different parties to the case connected? How do we manage the way information will travel through a community? - Support for victims prior to/during/following interviews • - Increase safety has induced disclosure of important information Collaboration to manage heavy and sensitive investigative moments, training in deescalation Being Trauma-Informed Starts With Self-Knowledge And Self-Regulation Modeling Safety - We communicate safety both verbally and non-verbally. - Empathy is two-way street we may be affected by another's emotional state, but likewise, our emotional state impacts them. - Social engagement can counteract trauma response. Stress Occurs on a Spectrum - Acute event or chronic stress? - What other protective or risk factors are at play? • Normative Stress • Emotionally Costly Stress • Traumatic Stress Understanding Risk and Protective Factors in the Workplace - How is your job perceived by the wider community? - Do the benefits supplied by your workplace help meet your needs? - Do you receive supportive supervision? - Do you have positive relationships with co-workers? - How do you manage your stress? - Societal • - Community • - (neighborhoods, schools, workplace, social or religious organizations) Relationship • - (social and cultural norms, policy) (family, peers, partner, other social networks) Individual • (age, education, income, attitudes, beliefs, trauma, mental health history) Secondary Traumatic Stress in the Workplace - A Trauma Exposure Response • Feeling Helpless and Hopeless • Grandiosity: An Inflated Sense of Importance Related to One's Work • A Sense That One Can Never Do Enough • Addictions • Hypervigilance • Inability to Empathize/Numbing • Anger and Cynicism • Diminished Creativity • Inability to Embrace Complexity • Minimizing • Fear • Chronic Exhaustion/Physical Ailments • Guilt • Sense of Persecution • Inability to Listen/Deliberate Avoidance Recognizing Warning Signs - "Often, people start recognizing the effect of trauma exposure when they realize they are behaving in a way they never would have when they first started working in their field."-Trauma Stewardship, p. 48 Building a Culture that Supports a Trauma-Informed Approach - "Ethical work cannot be maintained in an eroding environment that fails to support its workers.' Trauma Stewardship, p. 45 - Where can your organization build protective factors? • Supervision - modeling how to debrief and process difficult case moments • Peer-to-peer support between co-workers • Acknowledging the specific challenges that come with the work • Work-life balance