The Trauma We Carry
By Dena Dickerson
The story of how a survivor of childhood trauma and incarceration transforms her pain into purpose, helping others reenter and heal
After surviving a traumatic childhood and battling addiction, a formerly incarcerated person transforms their life through service. The Trauma We Carry details their journey helping others navigate reentry from prison while fighting for justice and reform in the juvenile justice system that fails to address the root causes of childhood pain.
The film draws a clear line between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), intergenerational trauma, and incarceration, advocating for a shift from punishment to care.
About the Issue
Youth in Alabama’s juvenile justice system face some of the highest rates of exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in the nation. These include abuse, neglect, household dysfunction, and exposure to violence. Research shows that 77% of incarcerated individuals have experienced at least one ACE—compared to 61% of the general population—placing them at significantly higher risk for justice system involvement.
Despite these findings, trauma screening and trauma-informed care are not systematically implemented at juvenile justice intake. Unfortunately, we know that juvenile detention results in higher adult incarceration rates, meaning that there is a pipeline from the youth system to the adult system. In addition, research has shown that adult prison populations disproportionately include individuals who had various traumatic experiences during their childhood and adolescence. This shows a need for state policy changes to integrate trauma-informed practices throughout Alabama’s juvenile and adult justice systems, from arrest to reentry.
Sources: Behind bars: A trauma-informed examination of mental health through importation and deprivation models in prisons (found here); and Juvenile Incarceration, Human Capital and Future Crime: Evidence from Randomly-Assigned Judges (found here)