Changing the System from Within: Undergraduate Criminal Justice Research on Trauma-Informed Law Enforcement

June 3, 2026 

By Stephanie Godward, Communications and Marketing Director, College of Arts & Sciences 

McKenzie Nguyen’s determination to change systems and communities for the better is the driving force behind her research on trauma-informed law enforcement officers handling sexual assault cold cases. 

Nguyen is a junior criminal justice major who has learned more about the research process through the Dean’s Office Mentored and Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (MURC) Award. 

Her focus on criminal justice stemmed from an introductory course that inspired her to make change from within a system. 

“I thought it was really interesting to gain perspective on the system, and how beneficial the system is but also the flaws in the system,” she states. “That was very intriguing to me because I want to fix the system and that is not always simple.” 

With a sociology minor, her goal is to attend law school after obtaining a master’s degree in criminal justice as a SOARING Scholar after graduating. 

Her particular MURC project, which is mentored by a graduate student, evaluates a trauma-informed training program for law enforcement officers in Kentucky. Officers complete surveys before and after the training to measure changes in knowledge, confidence, and attitudes related to responding to victim-survivors, including beliefs connected to rape myths.  

“A survivor’s first introduction to the system is always going to be a police officer,” Nguyen said. “What I have learned while doing this research is the officer will make or break whether or not a survivor will be able to trust the system.” 

The goal of the training is to improve how officers notify and interact with survivors when cold cases are revisited, ensuring responses are respectful, informed, and centered on survivors' needs. By analyzing these survey results, the project assesses whether the training meaningfully improves officer preparedness and builds on earlier sexual assault investigation trainings, which have shown promising outcomes, with the broader aim of strengthening trauma-informed practices in law enforcement. 

Trauma-informed training is important to ensure that all law enforcement officers are ready to handle these cases with care.  

“They typically have a toolkit of organizations they know of for referrals – but a lot of times it is just what they individually know, not something they are being taught,” Nguyen said. 

Now that she has even more research experience thanks to the MURC opportunity, she sees it as an integral aspect of her eventual career goals. Through this project, she has also learned about existing biases and why it is important to address them systemically. 

“What I knew but didn’t fully understand is how much society has an impact on how the topic of sexual assault can be so divisive,” she said. 

Nguyen and her mentor are now analyzing the data as officers also go through real life scenarios in partnership with actors from the Theatre Arts Department. 

“Someone can know a lot about trauma informed responses, but it is another thing to be able to use that while working with a survivor in a high-stress situation,” Nguyen said. “What has surprised me a lot is that someone can know so much about the concepts and the definitions and the history of trauma-informed practices, but actually being able to remember all of that when you are an officer in a high stress situation – how much knowledge they have on it matters and how it is drilled into their brain is so important because you are going to have to use that toolkit of empathy and all those good things.” 

Her love of undergraduate research has only continued to grow. 

“This opportunity has been extremely beneficial to me because as a full-time student I also work full-time, but research is something I am very interested in and it’s like almost my hobby in a sense,” Nguyen said. “I always find myself going down a rabbit hole and asking - how can these systems be better? How can we actually make it better? This funding has allowed me to pursue my passion for research while also being financially able to do the research." 

She’s also gained skills like data input and coding.  

“I am currently in a statistics class. It’s one thing to do the course and it’s another thing to actually do the implementing. It has been nice to work on my ability to do that.” 

For other undergraduate students considering delving into research, Nguyen says – try it out.   

“I never thought I would be interested in doing research, but in order to make real change in the world, research is one of the most important pieces to that because with systems, they are so big. And a lot of times, systems have been working the way that they are for decades. In order to change it, and to actually make the world a better place, we find our place in it, and we work and research to find solutions for others – the next generation or maybe our current one.” 

Nguyen plans to complete her undergraduate degree and to earn her master’s degree one year later as a SOARING Scholar. She then plans to go to law school and also wants to earn her PhD.  

“Someday I really want to be a family attorney, and I want to be a professor so that I can do research for the next generation,” Nguyen said.