In an effort to defend themselves against their abusers, thousands of individuals across the U.S. enter the courtroom each year to fight for their justice. However, the difficulty for survivors to fight is amplified through a major flaw in the court system: it is inherently built to retraumatize survivors and provide no support through the process.
When survivors of mental, physical, or sexual abuse choose to pursue justice through the legal system, they are immediately thrust into a process that can feel just as violating as the abuse itself. Before ever stepping into a courtroom, they must recount their trauma in exhaustive detail—often multiple times—to law enforcement, attorneys, and investigators. These interviews are rarely trauma-informed and frequently invasive, forcing survivors to relive their experiences without adequate emotional support.
Once inside the courtroom, the ordeal intensifies. Survivors face aggressive cross-examinations designed to dissect their story piece by piece, searching for inconsistencies or emotional “flaws” that can be used to undermine their credibility. They are subjected to character attacks, made to feel as though they are the ones on trial. And if they cannot withstand the emotional toll of testifying, their silence is interpreted as weakness or dishonesty—costing them their chance at justice, protection, or settlement compensation.
Even when survivors do speak, they are judged not just by their words, but by how they say them. A calm, composed demeanor may be misread as cold or deceptive. A distressed or emotional response may be dismissed as unstable or exaggerated. The courtroom demands a performance that few survivors are emotionally equipped to deliver—especially when their trauma is still fresh.
Sometimes other aspects play a bigger role in the toll of trials for survivors. The abuser simply being in proximity to the victim is enough to create a crippling sense of anxiety, with 81 percent of clients stating simply being exposed made them retraumatized.
According to psychologist Lisa Aronson Fontes, survivors of sexual violence or domestic abuse who testify in court often experience intense fear about confronting their abuser and anxiety over having to relive their trauma. Many also worry they’ll be mistreated or humiliated during the legal process.
Despite the emotional toll survivors already face, the court system makes little effort to ease the process or offer meaningful support. Many victims are denied the presence of therapists or support workers during proceedings, with one in five abuse support workers being actively blocked from entering courtrooms, due to perpetrators not wanting them present, according to the Domestic Abuse Commissioner. The environment itself can be hostile: 60 percent of survivors report being disrespected by judges, attorneys, or other legal personnel, often through dismissive language or invasive questioning. And most telling, 71 percent of survivors say they received no support whatsoever, whether in family court, civil court, or criminal proceedings.
This is the reason only 21 percent of sexual assaults are ever reported. This is the reason survivors regret going down the legal route, even if they win their case, because of the mental toll. It’s time to change this. Survivors shouldn’t have to fear reporting a crime, the abuser should.
Repairing this broken system must evolve the courtroom itself. Requiring legal personnel (judges, attorneys, and staff) to undergo training in trauma psychology would equip them to understand the mental and emotional realities survivors face. This knowledge is essential not only for fair assessment, but also for minimizing retraumatization during proceedings.
Additionally, placing limits on invasive and irrelevant questioning by the defense would protect survivors from being subjected to unnecessary cruelty, while still preserving the integrity of the legal process.
Most importantly, the courtroom must shift its focus: rather than focusing solely on barrading the survivor, it should spend that same amount of effort interrogating the alleged abuser. The truth cannot be found when only one party is questioned, and it should definitely not be the one fighting for justice. By making the examination process truly equal, it would send a clear message: abuse is not tolerated, and the truth is non-negotiable.
Survivors don’t want revenge, they want to feel and be safe—the courtroom doesn’t give them this. It is time for the legal system to do what it was founded upon: to protect the innocent, and serve justice to the guilty. Through this process, support needs to be given to the people who actually need it.
