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Common Mitigation Themes
from Indigent Defense
by TCDLA
• Prior generations of impaired family members
• Developmental difficulties/traumas, sometimes genetic, sometimes due to environmental circumstances
• Chaotic home lives (poverty, criminality, sexual/physical abuse, frequent moves, divorce, substance abusing parents, incarcerated parents)
• Poor cognitive ability/school performance – often including Special Education involvement & little family emphasis on education
• Substance abuse starting in late childhood, early teen years (and often acute intoxication at the time of the crime)
• Some degree of neuropsychological impairment (may be difficult to quantify)
• A personal history of some degree of psychiatric illness
• The vast majority are <25 years old – the age at which the brain is fully developed
Adverse Childhood Experiences
