TraumaTies Episode 5: Trauma & the Criminal Legal System (Part 1)
The courtroom can be a traumatizing place for survivors, who can experience retraumatization by having to relive and retell experiences. In addition, the outcome of the courtroom process is often not what they hoped or expected from the criminal justice system.
This is no surprise to victims’ rights lawyers like Kristin Eliason. Our criminal justice system, which is based on punishment, offers no real healing to survivors and often only perpetuates harm.
“I don’t think a system that is set up to essentially perpetuate the white supremacist ideologies that our country was founded on is ever going to be truly trauma-informed, because it’s not based in trauma-informed practices. … It is based in punishment,” Kristin says.
That’s where victims’ rights lawyers can be helpful. Much more than just providing defense in court, Kristen and her peers’ job is about using built connections and power in the legal system to both uplift voices and offer survivors some agency over their own cases. Most of all, it’s about listening to what the survivor wants.
“My crime victims’ rights work is not just what I do in the criminal courtrooms, but is [about] providing clients … with those additional options,” Kristin says.
Don’t miss this episode of TraumaTies as hosts Bridgette Stumpf and Lindsey Silverberg dive deep into trauma-informed justice with Kristin. They talk about what it’s like to represent survivors in court; the best trauma-informed practices that can make courtrooms more accessible and welcoming to survivors; and emerging trends in alternative justice and harm reduction like restorative justice practices.
Featured Guest
Name: Kristin Eliason
What she does: Kristin is the Legal Director at NVRDC, where she oversees a legal staff of 13. She has over a decade of experience representing survivors of various types of violence in protective order matters and higher education campus proceedings under Title IX and the Clery Act. She also worked representing victims of a variety of crime types in the assertion of their crime victims’ rights in criminal cases.
Company: Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC)
Words of wisdom: “Trauma-informed care is like such a buzzword nowadays … I think you can’t be like, we’re gonna be trauma-informed, without really starting to think about What causes trauma? And why does trauma exist?”
Connect: LinkedIn
Key Points
Top takeaways from this episode
Crime victims’ rights representation and crime victims’ rights advocacy aren’t the same. A victim of a crime can be represented in court by an attorney, and this goes beyond just advocacy. Through court representation attorneys can help fight for the victims’ rights and interests in the face of a legal system that isn’t built for true assistance, and also by offering additional options beyond the traditional legal system.
Victims’ rights attorneys can give survivors more power within the system. Though the ones most impacted by the crime, survivors don’t have any decision-making power legally. Victims’ rights attorneys, however, have privileged access to the legal system and can be a means to uplift survivor voices.
Managing expectations and preparing victims for court can lead to better outcomes. It can be difficult when survivors approach legal proceedings with the expectation or a desire for a certain outcome when the system likely won’t deliver. Managing their expectations in a trauma-informed manner can be a waypoint to introducing alternative options that can be affirming.
Traditional incarceration is not trauma-informed. A legal system based on punishment is not set up to promote healing: without trauma-informed expertise and processes, the system ultimately does not address — and likely serves to amplify — the harm the survivor experiences.
Episode Highlights
[03:14] Strong motivations: Today’s guest, Kristin Eliason, explains how her personal lived experiences influenced her interest in law and victims’ rights issues.
[06:39] Learning from experience: Kristin shares some of the biggest lessons she learned both as a law school student and as a lawyer, and how her own experience as a survivor informed how she navigated the field.
[12:31] How attorneys can help survivors: Victim advocacy is different from victim representation. Kristin talks about how attorneys can fight for the rights and interests of victims within a legal system that’s not built for them.
[19:03] Giving survivors a voice: Kristin and hosts Lindsey and Bridgette discuss how victims’ rights lawyers, as actors with power within the legal system, can help uplift survivors' voices.
[25:42] The system does not incentivize accountability: Restorative or transformative justice can be effective ways of repairing harm caused by crime. So why are they discouraged by the system?
[28:58] Societal shifts: Kristin discusses the injustices within the carceral system that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light.
[31:23] Managing expectations: How can you have trauma-informed conversations about alternative justice options with survivors who may be coming in with misconceptions about the legal system?
[37:50] The right approach: Kristin discusses why a justice system based on punishment is not trauma-informed and can amplify harm caused to all involved.
[45:01] Our legal system is not accessible: Before we can even get to a trauma-responsive system, we must allow people into that system by addressing accessibility issues.
[44:39] Reflecting on the system: Kristin offers a piece of advice to prosecutors on how they can make the justice system more trauma-informed.
[49:26] The benefits of advocacy: Lindsey and Bridgette discuss the benefits of having survivor advocates more directly involved in the legal system.
[49:26] The trauma-informed courtroom: While we want to change the system, we still have to operate within the one we have now. Kristin weighs in on what judges can do differently to make that system better.
Connect with the Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC)
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Brought to you by Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC), TraumaTies: Untangling Societal Harm & Healing After Crime is a podcast that creates space and conversations to dissect the structural and systemic knots that keep us from addressing trauma.
Rooted in a belief that survivors of crime deserve respect for their dignity in the aftermath of victimization, NVRDC seeks to empower survivors by informing them of all of the options available and working to transform existing response systems to be more inclusive of the diverse needs that survivors often have after crime.
NVRDC also provides free, holistic, and comprehensive advocacy, case management, and legal services to victims of all crime types in Washington, DC. Visit our website to learn more about how to access our trauma-informed education training and how to partner with us to expand survivor-defined justice.
Top quotes from the episode:
[18:33] “My work started as … calling the prosecutors and sometimes yelling at them, sometimes begging them, to now really trying to have professional relationships with the prosecutors so that they listen to my client’s desires, but also recognizing that … sometimes I’m going to have clients who don’t want to testify or who don’t want to have that system at all. And so my crime victims’ rights work is not just what I do in the criminal courtrooms, but is providing clients with those additional options.”
[24:18] “I think part of being able to have that power or those rights in court requires education of everyone who’s [in the] courtroom. And not everybody wants to be educated because it rocks the boat and affects the status quo of where we’ve been for hundreds of years as a country.”
[51:44] “Asking a crime victim how they want to participate, I think, is really important. We do have some flexibility for victims who are children — but how can we create a space where the survivor is able to testify in a way that is not going to re-traumatize them as much as they’re already going to get potentially re-traumatized, [while also] really asking them how they want to participate?”