Student Perspectives on Trauma-Informed Education Practices in Criminal Justice and Forensic Science

Abstract

As educators who teach about sexual violence and victimization in our criminal justice and forensic science courses and a psychology undergraduate who was learning about these topics, we were curious whether and how the hashtag #MeToo is changing classroom dynamics. We examine two trauma informed education activities used in classes at two different universities to assess students’ attitudes towards learning about violence and victimization in the #MeToo era. Data come from students’ reflections on content warnings and engagement with potentially upsetting or even triggering material at the beginning and end of an online Criminal Justice course (N = 31) and reflections on a guest speaker who shared the on-going trauma of an unsolved homicide of a family member in a Forensic Science course (N = 90). Qualitative data revealed that even students who experience discomfort see the benefits of being exposed to sensitive material, such as increased empathy, feeling more prepared to interact with victims and/or their families, understanding the emotional tolls of working in the field, and feeling more prepared for jobs in criminal justice and forensic agencies.

Keywords:

• Content warnings
• trigger warnings
• trauma-informed education
• online education
• professional socialization

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Andrea Hunt, Heather Shay, Kendra Jason, Alison Buck, RG Cravens, and Kathleen Lowney for their feedback on this paper. We are also grateful to the reviewers and editors who provided useful suggestions that helped us reframe and improve our paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 “Underrepresented minorities (URM) include students who self-report their race/ethnicity as Hispanic, Native American, African American, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, or multiracial. Including at least one of those four groups.” https://content-calpoly-edu.s3.amazonaws.com/ir/1/images/PolyView%20combind.pdf

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a summer stipend from the College of Liberal Arts at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo.

Notes on contributors

Kylie Parrotta

Dr. Kylie Parrotta is an assistant professor of sociology & criminology in the Department of Social Sciences at California Polytechnic State University with broad teaching and research interests in inequality, social psychology, and deviance & criminology. She is currently working on projects exploring the role of identity in the negotiation of organizational change, 21st century policing, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Alison C. Bergquist

Alison Bergquist is an undergraduate senior majoring in Psychology with minors in Law & Society and Child Development at California Polytechnic State University. She is interested in pursuing a law degree to challenge racial and economic injustices facing adults and juveniles in the criminal justice system.

Krystal R. Hans

Dr. Krystal Hans is the Director of Forensic Science and an assistant professor of forensic entomology in the Department of Entomology at Purdue University. Prior to joining Purdue University, she was the Director of Forensic Biology at Delaware State University. Dr. Hans has worked as a forensic entomologist with law enforcement in the US and Canada for the past 12 years, assisting in many different investigations. Dr. Hans’s research examines the influence of environmental factors on the behavior and development of forensically relevant insects and the decomposition of remains. She teaches forensic science and forensic entomology courses, as well as conducts workshops for criminal investigators and forensic pathologists.