When thinking about young people and the criminal justice system, it’s important to recognize the many different contributing factors that increase a young person’s risk level for being both criminalized and victimized. 

Childhood experiences, trauma, socioeconomic background, race, gender, immigration status, family structure, neurodiversity, and more are all examples of factors that influence mental health and predict likelihood of involvement with the criminal justice system. The term “Adverse Childhood Experience,” or “ACE” is used by researchers to describe traumatic experiences from childhood that impact a person’s mental and physical health, as well as risk level for criminal justice involvement.