ACE Scores, Crime, and a Place for Everybody?

I recently participated in an all-day conference on prisons and recovery, co-sponsored by the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara. One recurring theme? The ACE score: Adverse Childhood Experiences.

Here is a simplified list of ten such adverse childhood experiences:

Physical abuse
Emotional abuse
Physical neglect
Emotional neglect
Sexual abuse
Violence toward mother
Substance abuse in household
Household mental illness
Household member incarcerated
Parental separation or divorce

You can find a self-test of your ACE score online. My score was 1. Judy and Dave Flattery of the Humanist Society have done a deep dive into the prison system, including how people end up there and how they get out. They spend many hours in prison, meeting and working with inmates. Many inmates they meet have the worst possible ACE score of 10.

Judy and Dave score zero. The inmates cannot imagine that is even possible. Childhood trauma was “normal” for everyone they grew up with. Ninety-eight percent of people in prison have at least one ACE and 78% have at least four. In the general population only 16% have four.

Not everyone with a high ACE score ends up in prison. Many of them turn their trauma inward. They suffer mental and physical health problems. Even suicide. People with six or more ACEs are over 24 times more likely to attempt suicide compared to those with no ACEs.

And some people have a helper or mentor who keeps them safe and sane. Even one helper makes a huge difference.

Another factor in crime is brain injury. Around half of male prisoners have suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI) compared with less than 15% of the general population.

No one voluntarily asks for adverse childhood experiences or traumatic brain injuries. The question is whether we can reduce ACE and TBI rates and whether we can help these people. The idea is to help them and keep society safe.

One recurring theme at the conference: former prisoners who said they were not aware of another way of living. Everyone they know is living a life of crime and a life of criminal thinking.

They found a way out through opportunities in prison for education and for productive work. Education and work provide a way to live life without crime when the incarcerated are released. It also provides a way to associate with people who are living outside the criminal system.

My previous article was about Salman Khan and his radical idea of education: That almost everyone can be educated to the point of mastery. Society classifies people as criminals vs. law abiding. As dumb or smart.

Khan’s point is that with a little extra effort, we can bring everyone into the circle of society. Father Gregory Boyle runs Homeboy Industries, a place for former prisoners to find productive work. He is known for this
relevant quote.

“We imagine […] this circle of compassion. Then we imagine no one standing outside of that circle […] We stand with the demonized so that the demonizing will stop. We situate ourselves right next to the disposable so that the day will come when we stop throwing people away.”

Most modern industrialized countries understand this. But the U.S. has been held back by a fundamentalist version of Christianity that is all about good and evil and heaven and hell.

One speaker at the recent conference was Abigail Lewis of Golden Rule Reentry. She noted that newly released prisoners are not especially dangerous, but they are especially vulnerable.

Another speaker and former prisoner was Dr. Ronald Day of The Fortune Society. There is much talk of “recidivism.” He noted that much “recidivism” is a technical violation of parole rather than an actual new crime. One participant talked of her son who was forced to wait three hours for a parole meeting. He opted to leave to get to a class he was taking, putting him in violation.

Dr. Day said “desistance” from criminal behavior and thought – the process of stopping a behavior that was previously engaged in on a sustained basis – is a better measure of success. Society can help. Starting with a recognition and treatment of ACEs and TBIs. And providing a place in society
for everyone.