Prof. Daniel Pollack

Prof. Daniel Pollack, professor at Wurzweiler School of Social Work, has written “Police Review Boards, Not Just Cops, Need Training in Youth Trauma” for the July 8, 2020, issue of The Crime Report. “As the nation weighs transformative changes to the youth justice system,” Prof. Pollack writes, “the key role civilian oversight agencies play in dealing with justice-involved youth needs a lot more attention.” He argues that police review board members should be more aware of the nature of cross-over youth, dually involved youth, and dually adjudicated youth, not to mention the basic definitions of trauma and trauma-informed care, than they are. He quotes attorney Jeff Korek, past president of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, to make the point about the trauma that children can suffer because members are not able to see the youth in his or her true, three-dimensional context: “My years of experience representing young people who have endured injury and trauma have shown me that government agencies that serve young people, like the civilian complaint review board, must be prepared to not only address concerns about their treatment at the hands of the police, but the trauma that these young people may suffer as a result.”