By Authority Magazine Editorial Staff | Hosted on Medium
Authority Magazine on Medium – October 26, 2025
As part of my series about “authors who are making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Wendy Smith.
Wendy Smith, Ph.D., LCSW, is a retired clinical professor of social work and associate dean of curriculum development and assessment at the University of Southern California Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, where she taught courses on child and adolescent development. She is a licensed clinical social worker who maintained a private practice in psychotherapy in Los Angeles for 35 years, specializing in the treatment of individuals, couples, and survivors of childhood maltreatment. Her book, Before Their Crimes: What We’re Misunderstanding About Childhood Trauma, Youth Crime, and the Path to Healing, publishes in November by Bloomsbury.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
I am the child of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany who escaped the looming Holocaust as young people in the late 1930’s. They met and married in London, where my sister and I were born. Our family emigrated to the United States and I grew up in Los Angeles, going on to earn my undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of California. My career began with clinical social work and evolved to include teaching and administration at the University of Southern California.
I have had a lifelong interest in vulnerable children and youth which led me to treat many survivors of childhood trauma and to teach courses in child and adolescent development, as well as to engage in volunteer work with a number of youth-serving community organizations.
When you were younger, was there a book that you read that inspired you to take action or changed your life? Can you share a story about that?
The books that moved me most as a young girl were novels and biographies. When I was very young, for example, books about Clara Barton, the founder of the Red Cross and the only nurse during the Civil War, and Anna Pavlova, the great Russian ballerina, led me to feel that women could lead important lives and be leaders. Novels like “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” and “Little Women,” also had girls at their centers, but in addition, spoke to me about poverty, hardship, and complicated human relationships — and these were early influencers of my career choices. I read widely as a teen and in college, where I was an English literature major. I was influenced in my thinking about social issues John Steinbeck, Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright, “The Autobiography of Malcom X” — and also by Shakespeare’s plays and Victorian writers like Charles Dickens and Edith Wharton.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
It seems funny to me now, but it did not seem at all funny when it happened. When I arrived for an interview for a post-graduate training program in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, I had not done any advanced preparation for questions that might be asked; I had imagined a conversation in which I would simply ‘be myself’ and respond to whatever came up. One of the interviewers asked me to tell them about a difficult experience in my life, and I began to describe a relationship crisis that occurred when I was a teen-ager. The atmosphere in the room suddenly went flat and as I looked at the panel of interviewers, I saw that they were horrified by the nakedness of my revelation. I think they were expecting something much less loaded. This experience taught me to prepare for interviews, especially ones that could determine my future, in a much more thoughtful way.
Can you describe how you aim to make a significant social impact with your book?
I do have a very specific aim of contributing to the understanding of youth crime. I want to raise awareness of the impact and effects of trauma in childhood, so that more people come to realize that juvenile crime does not just happen — there is always a story behind it. My book, Before Their Crimes: What We’re Misunderstanding About Childhood Trauma, Youth Crime, and the Path to Healing, tells these stories, and they are told by the very people who experienced them. Hearing these voices, that so often are unheard, will, I hope, have a profound impact. I show the reader just how much childhood experience matters, and how painful early experiences can be devastating. The importance of the early developmental years is underestimated in society.
Can you share with us the most interesting story that you shared in your book?
That is a tough question, because, truly, each of the 20 stories in my book is extremely interesting. The fact that they are told by the people who lived them makes them especially affecting. Some are more shocking than others, because of the nature of the crime, or of the traumatic experience of the child. There are five women who tell their stories, and an interesting fact is that, with one brutal exception, their crimes were not violent, whereas many of the men attempted or committed murder.
What was the “aha moment” or series of events that made you decide to bring your message to the greater world? Can you share a story about that?
As I describe in the introduction to the book, it was a visit to Pelican Bay, the maximum-security prison in California where some of the most violent offenders are housed, that triggered my thinking about exploring and writing about the origins of juvenile crime. During a conversation with a prisoner in solitary confinement, when he described wrenching moments in his childhood, I began to see how important it could be to bring awareness to the relationship between childhood trauma and juvenile crime.
Without sharing specific names, can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?
The people who shared their stories when I interviewed them for my book have been impacted by the failure of society to understand childhood trauma and the need for intervention to help when it occurs. The crimes these individuals committed as teenagers were directly related to painful or frightening events they experienced as young children. And they are not alone — as a society, we just don’t appreciate enough the importance of early childhood development and the long-lasting effects of traumatic events on young children. Our foster care system and prisons are full of people who had to manage such experiences on their own.
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
- Broaden societal awareness and understanding of the importance of the first five years of a child’s life. This is when the majority of brain development takes place, and the foundations of a child’s relationship to others and the world at large are being built.
- Take advantage of schools by training teachers and school staffs to pay attention to changes in their students. When their grades fall off, when they are absent or truant repeatedly, don’t immediately move to suspension or expulsion as a solution — find out what’s going on in their lives to see if they can be helped to remain in school.
- Many states have enacted legislation to change juvenile justice as a result of knowledge about the differences between the teenage brain and the adult brain. Legislate a federal ban on juveniles being tried in adult court, sent to adult prisons, and receiving juvenile life without parole sentences.
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
I think of leadership as a complex combination of the ability to take risks and challenge the status quo, integrity and commitment to both goals and ethical values, strategic thinking, and the ability to connect with and hear people. It probably takes some amount of charisma as well.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.
I have “started” a number of different things — the practice of psychotherapy, being a professor, being a university administrator, participating in and leading non-profit boards, serving on a county commission, being an author — so answering your question is not so straightforward. I’ll try to offer some things which might be generalizable.
- Your first job is just your first job, and not the last, so feel free to try things.
- When your interest is sparked, pay attention, even if it seems unlikely or unreasonable to follow that inclination.
- Loving what you do matters more than you might think. It makes going to work a joy and not a chore.
- The ability to listen to others is under rated. Take the time to hear what other people are saying and to learn from them.
- Kindness is also under rated. Every interaction has an impact, whether large or small. Kindness is never forgotten, nor is unkindness.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I have more than one favorite, but the one that is perhaps more tied to this topic is the principle in Jewish law called “pikuach nefesh,” and means ‘saving a soul’ or ‘saving a life.’ The saying is that “anyone who saves a life (or soul) is as if he saved an entire world.’ It is about the value and meaning of every single life. I think of it on a spiritual, rather than physical level. To me, it means that when you have a truly positive impact on a person’s life, you have also made a difference in the world.
Is there a person in the world, or the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
The author Abraham Verghese comes to mind, because I have just been reading his books. His novels, Cutting for Stone and The Covenant of Waterhave had a great impact on me. His understanding of human behavior and his ability to create worlds in which the reader feels the experience of a wide array of characters and events is just remarkable. I would love to ask him about how he experiences the process of creating and writing.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
My website is https://wendybsmithphd.net.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!