Before Their Crimes: What We're Misunderstanding about Childhood Trauma, Youth Crime, and the Path to Healing

by Wendy Smith

Overview

Juvenile crime doesn't just happen-there is always a story behind it.
Before Their Crimes: Childhood Trauma, Youth Crime, and the Surprising Journey to Adult Healing is a ground-breaking book that sheds new light on the relationship of childhood trauma and juvenile crime. Wendy Smith uses the framework of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) to explain how the toxic stress of early childhood trauma can make children vulnerable to committing criminal acts. Smith draws from interviews with twenty men and women from across the racial and social divide who spent years in prison after committing serious crimes as children. Smith not only reveals the pernicious mechanisms that link early trauma to later crime, but also illuminates the potential for healing among even the most egregious offenders.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798881802035
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/13/2025
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Wendy Smith, PhD, LCSW, is a Distinguished Continuing Scholar in Child Welfare and former professor and associate dean at the University of Southern California, Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. After thirty-five years of practicing psychotherapy and university teaching, Dr. Smith turned her attention to working on change at a broader level through serving on the Los Angeles County Commission for Children and Families and providing leadership to non-profit organizations serving vulnerable youth in the foster care and juvenile justice systems. She chairs the Board of the National Foster Youth Institute, and serves on the Children's Rights Advisory Board of Human Rights Watch and the Foundation Board of the Venice Family Clinic, among others.

Dr. Smith is the author of Youth Leaving Foster Care: A Developmental, Relationship-Based Approach to Practice (2011) and has published on current issues in child welfare and the justice system in The Chronicle of Social Change (now The Imprint), an online newsletter. A recognized expert in child abuse and child development, she has appeared in the Netflix series The Trials of Gabriel, provided expert testimony on early attachment in a probate court guardianship case, and is frequent speaker to both academic and community groups on trauma, child development, and foster care.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Prisoner at Pelican Bay
Chapter 1: Adverse Childhood Experiences and Broken Attachments
Chapter 2: The Brain and Stress in Childhood
Chapter 3: Beyond the Front Door
Chapter 4: Terror at Home: Domestic Violence
Chapter 5: Is It Part of Me? Sexual Child Abuse
Chapter 6: Sticks and Stones: Physical Child Abuse
Chapter 7: Down the Rabbit Hole: When Your Parent Dies
Chapter 8: Do I Matter at All? Physical and Emotional Neglect
Chapter 9: Murder in the Family
Chapter 10: The Lonely Chaotic Wake of Parental Drug Addiction
Chapter 11: Adrift in an Immoral World
Chapter 12: The Seductive Embrace of the Gang
Chapter 13: Prison
Chapter 14: The Path to Healing
Epilogue: Where They Are Now
Appendix A: Interview Protocol
Appendix B: Adverse Childhood Experiences
References
Index
About the Author

Editorial Reviews

Through compelling real-life cases, Before Their Crimes illustrates that the human capacity to heal and transform can survive against all odds. Dr. Smith's passion for her work is obvious throughout as she urges and practices compassion for even the most serious offenders. Everyone from a curious general reader to those working in criminal justice and education should read this book.” —Anthony Romero, Executive Director, ACLU

“Before Their Crimes should be a must-read for elected officials and policy makers who want to make lasting change. Often news coverage of abhorrent crimes is the driving force for imposing harsh penalties and removing discretion from judges. Before Their Crimes provides a window into the complexity of individuals with criminal behavior and provides vital context sometimes absent in rushed policy discussions. The key to improving public safety is understanding what led to criminal behavior in the first place and addressing the issues during incarceration. Before Their Crimes makes a notable contribution toward the understanding and insight needed to bring about constructive change.” —Karen Bass, Mayor of Los Angeles and Former Member of Congress

“We wonder why young people commit violent crimes. What were they thinking? What warped them? Before Their Crimes answers those questions. Through interviews with the now-adult offenders, the author, a psychotherapist and expert on juvenile offenders, shows how the early trauma of each child led to the horrific crime each committed. The outcomes, and ways they might have been avoided, are explained in ways that everyone can understand. A must-read.” —Margaret S. Henry, Former Supervising Judge (retired), Dependency Court (cases involving abused and neglected children), Los Angeles Superior Court

“Wendy Smith has written a powerful and deeply moving book. It is that rare combination of emotion, factual insights and inspiration. Read it and savor it and encourage others to read it.” —Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films

“With profound insight into science and theory, Dr. Wendy Smith invites us to discover compassion in the roots of human experience, revealing that chance shapes our destinies as powerfully as choice-a truth made starkly visible in the lives of those impacted by incarceration.” —Dorian Traube, PhD, LCSW, Neidorff Family and Centene Corporation Dean and professor, Brown School, Washington University, St. Louis

“Dr. Wendy Smith's personal journey of healing brought her proximate to incarcerated people who society deemed "bad" and undeserving of a real first, let alone a second, chance when they were children. Through such proximity, compassion, and understanding, Before Their Crimes uncovers an epidemic of childhood trauma, the redemptive qualities of everyone, and the true path towards healing.” —Xavier McElrath-Bey, MA, Executive Director, Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth

“Through interviews with multiple juvenile offenders who had been sentenced to lengthy prison terms, including life sentences, Dr. Wendy Smith has written a primer on the impact of trauma, including physical and sexual abuse, substance abuse, loss of loved ones, and abandonment. Despite the trauma these young people experienced at a young age and that contributed significantly to their criminal behavior and lengthy incarcerations; and despite the hopelessness they felt upon being removed from society, Dr. Smith illustrates how healing can occur and ultimately lead to a rebirth of hope for a meaningful life.” —Michael Nash, Executive Director, Los Angeles County Office of Child Protection; former Presiding Judge, Los Angeles County Juvenile Court

From the Publisher