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The Criminalization of Trauma in Justice- Involved Girls’ Lives and Stories of Resilience from a Juvenile Prison

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The Criminalization of Trauma in Justice- Involved Girls’ Lives and Stories of Resilience from a Juvenile Prison FIGHTING FOR HOPE: THE CRIMINALIZATION OF TRAUMA IN JUSTICE- INVOLVED GIRLS’ LIVES AND STORIES OF RESILIENCE FROM A JUVENILE PRISON A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE TEXAS WOMAN’S UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF MULTICULTURAL WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES BY ALLISON DAVIS B.A., M.A., M.S. DENTON, TEXAS AUGUST 2017 DEDICATION To the little girl with a “black heart.” iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to gratefully acknowledge the many individuals who have contributed to this dissertation. I would like to thank my committee chair Dr. AnaLouise Keating for guiding me through this process and for introducing me to the intersectional theories that have guided my inquiry during and since my Masters of Arts in Women’s Studies. Your support for my interest in practicing a multicultural counseling theory shaped my professional development in profound ways. I would like to thank Dr. Lamar Muro for introducing me to my topic and for providing me with guidance as a mental health professional in my Masters of Science in Counseling and Development. I would like to thank Dr. Mark Kessler for his generous sharing of his research expertise and skills. I would not have been able to complete my dissertation without all three of you. Your words of support, constructive comments, and suggestions added valuable direction for my research and writing. I would like to thank both Dr. Claire Sahlin and Dr. AnaLouise Keating for creating and safeguarding a space within Texas Woman’s University and the University of Texas system for critical study in the field of Multicultural Women's and Gender Studies. So much of my personal as well as scholarly and professional development has happened within this unique academic home. I am grateful to you two and the rest of the Multicultural Women’s and Gender Studies faculty at Texas Woman’s University, who encouraged me to think critically and challenged me to produce work that strives to reflect the transdisciplinary values of the department. iv Finally, I would like to thank the young women who took part in this dissertation as research participants. Your stories of resilience and your bravery in the face of one of the most extreme forms of oppression inspire me every day. v ABSTRACT ALLISON DAVIS FIGHTING FOR HOPE: THE CRIMINALIZATION OF TRAUMA IN JUSTICE- INVOLVED GIRLS' LIVES AND STORIES OF RESILIENCE FROM A JUVENILE PRISON AUGUST 2017 Girls make up a growing proportion of justice-involved adolescents, yet there is a gap of scholarly qualitative data on girls experiencing incarceration. This study addresses that gap by holistically examining justice-involved girls’ pathways to and experiences of incarceration. The researcher selected portraiture as the primary investigative method for this research in order to best capture and convey authentic representations of justice- involved girls’ lives. The researcher interviewed nine girls who were experiencing incarceration in a post-adjudication juvenile justice facility in Texas regarding their experiences of and lives leading up to incarceration. Additionally, two instruments were administered, the UCLA Adolescent PTSD Reaction Index and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, in order to capture the gendered role of trauma in justice-involved girls’ lives and specific characteristics of resilience. Findings showed a patterned pathway to incarceration, involving early relational trauma, development of posttraumatic stress symptoms, adaptation of behaviors to help girls survival cope with the symptoms, and eventual punishment of these behaviors by the juvenile justice system. Findings also demonstrated a cyclical relationship between system punishment-oriented responses, vi increasing posttraumatic stress symptoms, escalated survival coping, and the repeated adjudication for survival coping that resulted in multiple entries into correctional placements marked by increasing lengths and higher security. Throughout their lives, justice-involved girls have had survival coping to untreated PTSD labeled as bad behavior and punished, a theory the author calls the “criminalization of trauma.” This theory is illustrated with a model as well as with portraits woven from emergent themes and direct experiences of participants’ lives. Special attention is paid to the resilience strategies girls use to navigate challenges-in themselves, others, and their environment- highlighting effective ways to assist justice-involved girls’ efforts to escape a system that both failed to protect them from harm and then punished them for surviving. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION ...................................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................ iv ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................ xi LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................ xii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 1 Purpose .................................................................................................................................... 2 Problem Statement ............................................................................................................. 3 Rationale ................................................................................................................................. 5 Research Question ........................................................................................... 6 Document the role of trauma in the lives of participants ..................... 6 Determine the contexts under which trauma survivors’ recovery is inhibited by incarceration and how they respond .................... 6 Identify and understand the resilience strategies of participants ......... 7 Significance ...................................................................................................... 7 Structure ................................................................................................................................... 9 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................. 13 Justice-Involved Girl ........................................................................................ 13 Theories on Girl Delinquency ..................................................................................... 20 Trauma and Justice-Involved Girls Trends ........................................................................... 26 Trauma as Pathway ......................................................................................................... 33 Commentary ....................................................................................................................... 44 III. METHOD ...................................................................................................................................... 46 viii Mode of Inquiry ................................................................................................................. 46 Context and Constraints ................................................................................................ 50 Research Design ............................................................................................................... 62 Data Collection .................................................................................................................. 69 Data Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 74 Limitations .......................................................................................................................... 82 IV. RESULTS ....................................................................................................................................... 86 The Criminalization of Trauma .................................................................................. 87 “Giving Up” Hope .............................................................................................................. 91 Zinova’s balancing act ..................................................................................... 91 Childhood Traumatic Victimization ......................................................................... 95 Early childhood exposure .............................................................................. 96 Late childhood exposure ................................................................................ 9 Sandy’s tumultuous childhood .................................................................... 99 Survival Coping .............................................................................................................. 1068 Mary’s anger coping ...................................................................................... 107 Zinova’s withdrawal coping ......................................................................
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