What Are Adverse Childhood Experiences?

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Juvenile offenders and extremists have experienced more childhood trauma than the general population.

Right-wing extremists experienced higher rates of childhood adversity than left-wing extremists.

Extremists may develop a lack of empathy as a response to maltreatment.

On September 1, 2026, 17-year-old Sarah Santiago, a high school student in North Carolina, was charged with murder in the deaths of three people in a mass shooting at a mosque in San Diego. She and the two gunmen coordinated a plan for her to livestream the event. The two shooters, 17 and 18 years old, one wearing Nazi insignia that Sarah provided, took their own lives. Little is known about Sarah Santiago’s family, her childhood, or those of the gunmen, but researchers have made some headway in understanding the origins of violent extremism.

Young people who engage in any kind of criminal behavior are likely to have experienced many more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) than those who don’t. For example, 96% of offenders in the Florida juvenile justice system experienced at least one ACE in their lifetime and 40% experienced four or more (Windisch, 2022). Those who engage in right-wing extremism look similar in terms of trauma exposure.

In one of the first studies of the incidence of childhood trauma among white supremacists, researchers found that 65% of those studied had been exposed to at least one type of childhood maltreatment, including physical or emotional neglect, or emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. One third of them were exposed to three........

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