Implementation of practices deemed trauma-informed in juvenile court

High rates of trauma among court-involved youth have led to efforts to incorporate trauma-informed practices (TIPs) in courts. Despite these efforts, little is known about the degree to which TIPs have been adopted. We observed 201 juvenile court hearings overseen by 16 judges in a Southeastern state in the United States, examining the presence of over 60 TIPs related to the environment, policies/activities, and judge behaviour. Descriptive analyses revealed vast gaps in the implementation of certain TIPs, such as those related to decision-making and acknowledgment of contextual factors contributing to youths' court involvement. We additionally conducted multilevel modelling to examine whether judges' engagement with TIPs depended on case-, judge-, and youth-related factors. We found judges generally implemented TIPs equitably across examined factors but between-judge variability in three practice categories suggests youths' court experiences may depend on the judge to whom they are assigned.