Recognising the Relationships Between Trauma and Offending

Trauma is the distressing impact of adverse events and experiences across a person's life, particularly on an individual’s psychological and cognitive functioning and social and emotional wellbeing. Many people who have offended have experienced much higher levels of adversity and trauma than the average citizen. This chapter explores the associations between trauma and the perpetration of crime. While there is a lack of evidence showing a causal relationship between trauma and criminality, many of the criminogenic risk factors are associated with trauma. The relationships between trauma and particular offending types are also examined. The chapter concludes by exploring whether resisting re-traumatisation will reduce future crimes. Adversity and trauma should remain a crucial focus for criminal justice agencies when developing policies and practices to reduce offending behaviour.