Researcher explores the criminalisation of childhood trauma

University of Adelaide Associate Professor Catia Malvaso is exploring the need to reform the youth justice system at this month’s Research Tuesdays lecture.

Associate Professor Malvaso, School of Psychology and criminal justice lead with the BetterStart Health and Development research team in the School of Public Health, will discuss the findings of her and her multidisciplinary team.

“The crossover of young people between the child protection and youth justice systems is striking, but it is also preventable,” said Associate Professor Malvaso.

“Using linked administrative data from the BEBOLD (Better Evidence, Better Outcomes, Linked Data) platform, we have shown 84 per cent of young people in South Australia born between 1991 and 1998 under Youth Justice supervision are known to Child Protection.

“We extended this research by interviewing young people under Youth Justice supervision and found almost 90 per cent reported trauma symptoms, including posttraumatic stress, anxiety, depression, anger and dissociation.

“We are working towards a better understanding of when and how experiencing maltreatment and adversity leads to offending behaviour.

“The goal is to use this knowledge to inform prevention strategies and to assist those working with young people who offend to be more aware of, and responsive to, their developmental and trauma-related needs.”

Associate Professor Malvaso said working with justice-involved young people to better understand their situations improves their individual outcomes and makes communities safer.

“Through our research, we have shown most of these young people have experienced abuse and neglect, witnessed violence in their families and communities, live in poverty and vulnerable circumstances, and have parents and family members who struggle with mental illness, substance misuse, or who are themselves justice-involved,” she said.

“The evidence that tough-on-crime strategies fail to reduce re-offending is well-established – in particular, we know that incarceration does not deter individuals from crime and, for many young people, detention can further entrench offending behaviour.”

Speaker

Associate Professor Catia Malvaso is an academic in the School of Psychology and criminal justice research lead with BetterStart Health and Development research in the School of Public Health at the University of Adelaide. She leads a program of research on understanding pathways between the child protection, youth justice and adult criminal justice systems, with the overarching goal of identifying prevention and early investment opportunities to improve outcomes for children, families and communities. Associate Professor Malvaso was awarded a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) from the Australian Research Council in 2019, an Early Career Researcher Prize from the American Society of Criminology in 2020, and, in 2021, an Australian Institute of Policy and Science Tall Poppy Award for excellence in research achievement and community engagement.                   

When

Tuesday, 12 November, 5:30-6:30 pm.           

Where

The Braggs Building, North Terrace campus, The University of Adelaide.                              

Tickets

Click here to reserve an in-person ticket / Click here to register for the online stream.