“My Coping Doesn’t Really Matter:” How Military Lawyers Navigate Vicarious Trauma Through Emotional Labor and Emotion Work

Abstract

Rampant sexual assault within the United States military contributes to an environment where military lawyers are exposed to vicarious trauma while handling sexual violence cases. Through in-depth interviews, we argue that military lawyers, trained to suppress emotions during military training, often negate their own trauma. Further, prosecutors are encouraged to take victim-centric approaches, that require emotional labor and minimizing their own emotional expressions. Therefore, they professionalize, minimize, and abstract the impact of vicarious trauma on their lives. Findings underscore how societal and professional expectations constrain the emotional expressions of military lawyers, highlighting the need to address mental well-being in the military.

Keywords

sexual assault emotional labor vicarious trauma military justice prosecutors coping mechanisms

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