Robert Reed, executive deputy attorney general for special initiatives, spoke to groups Thursday and Friday about trauma and its effects.

Usually when the state Attorney General’s office is in town it’s for the prosecution of serious crimes.

But Thursday, Robert Reed, the executive deputy attorney general for special initiatives, was here to help.

Reed, a federal prosecutor in the eastern district of Pennsylvania for 30 years, has seen the gamut.

Now, he’s been speaking all across the state, helping the entities that make up the criminal justice system – judges, probation, and others – to understand the effects of trauma in their work.

“Is trauma a public health crisis? I would say in my view,” Reed said, “trauma has been a public health crisis since the beginning of time.”

For Reed, learning about trauma and its effects has been an ongoing process.

“The number one priority in being trauma-informed is to be safe. You should always be in a position to take care of yourself,” he said. “The bottom line is I also dealt with a million victims who had been so horribly heart. I didn’t think about that on the emotional side.”

And that learning process has highlighted a need to bring systemic change.

Understanding this aspect of the emotional impact of crime (and violence)… we’re helping enhance justice in this process,” he said. “We’re trying to improve the justice system and human services and education.”

So the session helped to define trauma and how it is most frequently observed in the criminal justice process.

He said that the word comes from the Green for wound – “something bad that happened that can cause some chronic stress.”

And it affects everyone – think fight or flight.

“The bottom line is your brain is overwhelmed,” Reed said, when under that kind of stress. “Your brain is really fragmented.”

Reed shared the story of a man who spent 28 years in prison as a “child lifer” on a murder conviction. He said that man acknowledged that his life changed when he watched his mother shoot his father. He started carrying a gun at the age of 12.

He argued that most people who come into court, especially in criminal cases, bring in some traumatic experiences.

“This woman or man who is the judge, and that jury, controls so much of your life,” Reed said. “The impact on you walking in is surreal for these people who are coming into court, because they can see the process work out (and are) somewhat powerless.”

Not all trauma is that severe.

Reed’s example of that? The COVID-19 pandemic, which affected all of us in one way or another.

He cited youth data obtained in the county from 2017 that indicated 36 percent of students in grades 6-12 felt depressed or sad and that 13.6 reported some kind of self harm.

“It’s like this throughout Pennsylvania and frankly the United States,” Reed said, calling these “astonishing statistics. This is why it’s an important thing.”

One of the core tenets from Reed’s presentation is the impact that adverse childhood experiences can have in the long-term.

“There are various critical periods of neural development,” he said. “The most critical time is 0-3. That’s when all these circuits are really coming together.

A mother using drugs or a child being exposed to abuse or violence impacts that development.

“All that stuff can have a huge negative impact,” he said. “It’s the most complex organ…. You don’t have a finely finished cortex until you’re about 23…. If you’re exposed to trauma and adversity, the withering away may be a negative. It’s going to impact your neuro development.”