For victims and defendants alike, going to court can be intimidating. Even before the proceedings begin, courtrooms convey a sternness in their design: windowless, blank walls, austere furnishings, the distant judge’s bench. But Wake County District Court Judge Sam Hamadani’s courtroom is unusual.
A mural splashed across the back wall from floor to ceiling depicts a mountain range in vibrant sunset colors. Paintings of flowers adorn the other walls. Off to one side is a children’s play area equipped with noise-canceling headphones, books, and art supplies. To the other, there’s a display case full of pamphlets and flyers explaining how court works and advertising supportive resources. The backs of the courtroom pews have been freshly painted to erase years of graffiti.
The holding cell, where juvenile and adult defendants wait before court appearances, has also been repainted to remove graffiti from the walls and floors. The temperature inside has been raised to make it more comfortable. In the courtroom’s two conference rooms, there is a “feelings wheel” and a “needs wheel” to help children—particularly young or neurodivergent children—pinpoint and express what they’re feeling.
Hamadani’s courtroom holds sessions for Juvenile Justice Court, for youth ages 10 to 17 accused of criminal conduct, and Adult Recovery Court, a post-conviction court for adults with severe substance use disorder. Both are geared toward rehabilitation and reducing recidivism. Between March and June of this year, Hamadani transformed her courtroom space to be more conducive to those goals. The mural, the children’s corner, and the other updates are all designed to make court participants feel safer and calmer.
“Rehabilitation is exceptionally difficult without trust and respect,” Hamadani wrote in a recent email to the INDY. “The majority of individuals appearing in these courts have significant trauma histories. This trauma, combined with a deep-rooted distrust of the system generally, often hinders open and honest communication. I am hopeful that this trauma-sensitive transformation—in both action and appearance—will positively shift how individuals experience the courtroom.”
Hamadani’s changes—funded by a grant the Wake County Bar Association received from the HopeStar Foundation, and made in consultation with the Bolch Judicial Institute of Duke Law School, the bar association, and local artists—are part of a broader movement to make judges and courtrooms more trauma-informed.
In the 1990s, doctors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the nonprofit managed-care organization Kaiser Permanente surveyed thousands of people on their adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs. These include emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, neglect, food insecurity, having an incarcerated parent, or witnessing drug use or domestic violence at home. Researchers then tracked participants’ health outcomes over the next 20 years. The study found that ACEs are very common: Two-thirds of respondents reported at least one ACE, and 1 in 6 reported four or more ACEs. Further, it demonstrated that the more ACEs people accumulated in childhood, the more likely they were to abuse alcohol or drugs or develop depression or chronic illness later in life.
The study fundamentally shifted how healthcare providers and educators thought about childhood trauma and its impact into adulthood. Having learned that minimizing childhood trauma could extend people’s lifespans, they looked for ways to provide trauma-informed care.
The judicial community also took notice. ACEs are more prevalent among justice-involved children and adults than the general population; it’s estimated that up to 90% of youth and 75% of adults in the criminal legal system have experienced some form of trauma.
In 2021, North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby appointed a bipartisan group of judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judicial scholars to a Task Force on ACEs-Informed Courts. For two years, they studied the science of trauma and produced a library of trauma-informed trainings, certifications, and resources for judges.
One result of the task force is that since 2023, each new district court judge in the state has received a six-hour trauma-informed training from the UNC School of Government. Another is that judges around the state have access to an ACEs-Informed Courts Bench Card, a quick reference guide for recognizing and responding constructively to trauma. The task force concluded that North Carolina should expand its recovery courts, mental health treatment courts, family drug treatment courts, and veteran’s treatment courts—all courts for nonviolent or young offenders where the goal is rehabilitation, not prison.
“When we teach judges about these kinds of practices, we’re trying to teach them a different way of looking at what it means to be a judge,” said Amelia Thorn, the assistant director of the Bolch Judicial Institute of Duke Law School. “Rather than just this simple vision of the judge as arbiter … more of the judge as a community connector, someone who’s in this monumental position of authority at a really difficult time in someone’s life, who might be able to make a difference for the better.”
Thorn served on Newby’s task force and worked with Hamadani on the updates to her courtroom. One part of her job at the Bolch Institute involves training judges from across the country to adapt their communication styles, procedures, decisions, and physical spaces to be more trauma-sensitive.
Better communication could look like using plain, nontechnical language, acknowledging litigants’ feelings, listening actively, and asking follow-up questions. Procedural changes include avoiding shackling children and opting to speak at a conference table instead of from the bench when appropriate. When it comes time for the judge to decide the outcome of a case, a trauma-informed approach could involve explaining why they gave the sentence they did, connecting litigants with services, or ordering follow-up appearances to check in on their progress.
“There is a concern that trauma-informed practices are fundamentally in conflict with accountability measures, and I don’t think that is necessarily true,” Thorn said. “What we try to tell judges is that a tough-on-crime judge is a trauma-informed judge, because a trauma-informed judge is actually trying to get to the root of the problem and respond to crime in that way.”
Hamadani began her career as an assistant public defender in the Wake County Public Defender’s Office. She was appointed to the district court in 2017 and elected to her first full term in 2018; she is currently running unopposed for a third term. Since becoming a judge, she told the INDY, she’s attended many training sessions on trauma-informed practices, which she wrote are particularly relevant in Juvenile and Adult Recovery court, where “many individuals … have significant trauma histories.” The Wake County Bar Association applied for the HopeStar grant on her behalf.
“Even prior to our courtroom transformation, I integrated trauma-informed principles into my daily work,” Hamadani wrote. “I changed the language I regularly used when speaking to individuals. … I also learned to adapt my tone and demeanor—especially in situations with the potential for escalation. I regularly utilize motivational interviewing [a communication tool sometimes employed by healthcare providers, mental health professionals, and social workers] when interacting with individuals in court. … Ultimately, transforming the physical space served as the critical final piece to bring all of these efforts together.”
There isn’t yet much research on the impact of trauma-informed practices in the courtroom, Thorn said. But anecdotally, feedback on Hamadani’s changes has been positive, from the prosecutorial side as well as the defense.
Lorrin Freeman, Wake County’s outgoing district attorney, welcomed the effort while stressing that courtrooms are rightfully serious spaces.
“I appreciate the efforts to modify court space to make it less intimidating for individuals and understand that trauma-informed services are an important part of breaking cycles of violence,” Freeman wrote in an email to the INDY. “At the same time, these modifications should not only focus on the needs of an offender but also on the needs of victims of crime. Sadly our juvenile courts deal with very serious matters. It is important that the courtroom project an atmosphere that demonstrates the serious impact the proceedings have on individuals’ lives and be designed to aid in building trust with the public.”
Incoming district attorney Wiley Nickel, who is running unopposed this year for the seat Freeman is vacating, was even more enthusiastic.
“I think it’s a really positive thing,” Nickel told the INDY. “The bottom line is that court is very traumatic, especially for juveniles. … Any way we can make court more accessible and less scary is a good thing.”
Nickel, like Thorn, said that being tough on crime and being trauma-informed are by no means mutually exclusive.
“We want to make sure we approach our cases, at least for me, [with] the end goal in mind of making sure people don’t re-offend. So that means tackling the root cause—substance abuse, mental health. That’s part of so many of the cases that flood our courts,” he said.
Wake County’s chief public defender, Deonte’ Thomas, said his assistant public defenders who spend their days in Hamadani’s courtroom are pleased with the changes. Thomas can’t say for certain that the mural or Hamadani’s intentional language are the reasons some defendants are calmer or more engaged, but he suspects they’re making a difference.
“It’s important what she’s doing, and I think it’s been received very well,” Thomas said. “The pendulum of justice swings back and forth, and unfortunately, we’re in an era right now where it’s more on the side of ‘punish, punish, punish.’ But that is not what courts are for generally, and even more specifically for juveniles, that should not be what it’s about. It’s about correction, rehabilitation, second chances.”
Hamadani is one of only a handful of judges and district attorneys in the state who have updated their courtrooms with funding from the HopeStar Foundation. But Thorn said the trauma-informed approach is gaining momentum.
“Some judges have been doing this, and not necessarily naming it, for a long time,” Thorn said. “But in terms of when the movement started, I feel like we’re at the beginning of it.”
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