Rewriting Justice: Trauma, Power, and Public Safety, with Patrice Sulton

The criminal legal system inflicts trauma at every stage — arrest, incarceration, and prosecution — not only on those accused but on victims, witnesses, and even jurors. Patrice Sulton has spent her career working to change that dynamic. The executive director of the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU School of Law, Patrice is an attorney, professor, and nationally recognized criminal justice reform advocate who challenges how we think about who we punish, why, and how. Hosts Bridgette Stumpf and Lindsey Silverberg sit down with Patrice for a conversation about what “trauma-informed public safety” looks like in practice. At its core, trauma-informed public safety recognizes our humanity. “We really have to make sure that they're making knowing, intelligent, and voluntary decisions, and that means accounting for things including the trauma that they've experienced over the course of their lives,” she says.

Patrice explains how navigating rooms of power requires shifting the question from "was this legally authorized?" to "was this preventable?” and “was this necessary?” And she outlines how language can be manipulated in the public safety context, particularly the word “dangerousness.” She encourages her students to think about “dangerousness” through a different fact pattern to avoid thought bias, racial animus, and unequal outcomes. How to reform the system? Tune in for her insights about why “going big” is better than taking small and incremental steps.

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☑️ Patrice Sulton | LinkedIn

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Brought to you by Volare, TraumaTies: Untangling Societal Harm & Healing After Crime is a podcast that creates space and conversations to dissect the structural and systemic knots that keep us from addressing trauma.

Rooted in a belief that survivors of crime deserve respect for their dignity in the aftermath of victimization, Volare seeks to empower survivors by informing them of all of the options available and working to transform existing response systems to be more inclusive of the diverse needs that survivors often have after crime.

Volare also provides free, holistic, and comprehensive advocacy, therapeutic, and legal services to survivors of all crime types. Visit our website to learn more about how to access our trauma-informed education training and how to partner with us to expand survivor-defined justice.