Lawyer leads new campaign
A West Lothian solicitor is at the forefront of a ground-breaking campaign to change the way the justice system deals with vulnerable people whose problems stem from adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
Iain Smith – a partner in Keegan Smith Defence Solicitors in Livingston and the leading “trauma informed” lawyer in Scotland – is actively involved in asking all judges in Scotland to treat “damaged” people who appear before them with respect and dignity.
He is a core group member of West Lothian Adverse Childhood Experiences Hub, a trustee of the charity Aid & Abet, which tries to help people get out of the cycle of offending, and has given presentations on the issue to influential groups across Scotland.
He said: “The big picture for me is raising awareness of the impact of childhood trauma on the developing brain. Children do not bounce back from ‘troubled childhoods’. Childhood stress, fear and loss leave longterm biological wounds. ACEs become toxic when children are left to deal with fear alone, without an adult to whom they can reliably turn for help. It is a sobering thought to reflect on the number of children in our society whose lives are absent of even one emotionally reliable adult.”
Iain’s interest in ACEs was sparked by a study involving 17,000 participants which was published in 1998, but which took two decades to reach public awareness. It found that the greater the number of stressful events (ACEs) a person faced as a child, the greater the likelihood they would suffer health problems in adulthood.
Recognised conditions included heart disease, liver disease, Type 2 diabetes and pregnancy loss, but behaviours that put health at risk such as smoking, drinking and illicit drug use also contributed, bringing increased likelihood of mental health struggles, such as depression and suicide.
Iain said it dawned on him after watching a James Redford documentary ‘Resilience’ that the ACEs research applied to many of his own clients – the young men and women he defends in the law courts for drugs offences, breaches of the peace, petty theft, assault and other such crimes.
He said: “This is about clients who are not only the perpetrators of crime but actually victims of neglect and to some extent of crimes such as being physically and sexually abused. This provided an explanation to me as to why these angry, resentful, antiauthoritarian young people would creep into my world and often stay there, stuck with their addictions and their behavioural problems which were getting them into trouble with the police and the courts. As it turned out, addiction wasn’t really the issue. The issue was the trauma, what was hiding underneath and how they coped with it.”
An active ACEs movement is now well under way in Scotland. The West Lothian branch is the only ACEs hub, to date, which has developed strong links with the legal profession.