Prosecution as a “Soul Crushing” Job: Emotional Labor and Secondary Trauma in Working Sexual Assault Cases

Abstract

Prosecutors who work sex crimes face considerable legal constraints, for example, the need for corroborating evidence to prove their case, as well as extra-legal factors including biases that influence decision-making across the criminal justice system. Beyond these factors, sexual assault cases, especially those involving college students, present significant emotional trauma not only for victims, but also for prosecutors. This inductive study explores the ways prosecutors handle system constraints and how they experience and manage their response to emotionally difficult cases. Qualitative interview data revealed strategies that prosecutors use to mitigate the psychological impacts of participation in the courtroom experience on survivors of sexual assault and indicators of secondary trauma. In combination, this study’s examination of legal and extra-legal factors, secondary and vicarious trauma, and emotional labor contribute to a theory of how prosecutors work campus sex crime cases, expanding our understanding of both prosecutors’ roles and emotional labor, with implications for research, policy and practice.