Before Their Crimes, Wendy Smith
Before Their Crimes, Wendy Smith
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Before Their Crimes
What We're Misunderstanding about Childhood Trauma, Youth Crime, and the Path to Healing

Author: Wendy Smith

Narrator: Hillary Huber, Kirsten Potter, various narrators, Adenrele Ojo, Kyla Garcia, Stacy Gonzalez, Alex Boyles, Zac Aleman, Kenneth Fuentes, Tim Lounibos, Jamie Lincoln Smith, Nicole Cash

Unabridged: 9 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/11/2025

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included

Synopsis

Juvenile crime doesn’t just happen—there is always a story behind it.Before Their Crimes: What We’re Misunderstanding about Childhood Trauma, Youth Crime, and the Path to Healing is a ground-breaking audiobook that sheds new light on the relationship of childhood trauma and juvenile crime. Wendy Smith uses the framework of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) to explain how the toxic stress of early childhood trauma can make children vulnerable to committing criminal acts. Smith draws from interviews with twenty men and women from across the racial and social divide who spent years in prison after committing serious crimes as children. Smith not only reveals the pernicious mechanisms that link early trauma to later crime, but also illuminates the potential for healing among even the most egregious offenders.Winner of the 2026 Los Angeles Book Festival Wild Card Category
Runner-up in the 2026 Los Angeles Book Festival General Nonfiction Category
Winner of the 2026 New England Book Festival Wild Card Category
Runner-up in the 2026 New England Book Festival General Nonfiction Category
Winner of the 2026 Southern California Book Festival Wild Card Category
Winner of the 2026 Southern California Book Festival General Nonfiction Category
Runner-up of 2026 New York Book Festival General Nonfiction Category
Runner-up of 2026 New York Book Festival Wild Card Category

About Wendy Smith

Wendy Smith, PhD, LCSW, is a Distinguished Continuing Scholar in Child Welfare and former professor and associate dean at the University of Southern California Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. After thirty-five years of practicing psychotherapy and university teaching, Dr. Smith turned to providing leadership to nonprofit organizations serving vulnerable youth in the foster care and juvenile justice systems.

About Hillary Huber

Hillary Huber is one of the most successful voice talents in Los Angeles. Recent books read for Blackstone Audio include Him, Her, Him Again, the End of Him by Patricia Marx, A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read, and A Map of Glass by Jane Urquhart.

About Kirsten Potter

Kirsten Potter has won several awards, including more than a dozen AudioFile Earphones Awards and been a three-time finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. Her work has been recognized by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and by AudioFile magazine, among many others. She graduated with highest honors from Boston University and has performed on stage and in film and television, including roles on Medium, Bones, and Judging Amy.

About Adenrele Ojo

Adenrele Ojo is an actress, dancer, and audiobook narrator, winner of over a dozen Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2018. She made her on-screen debut in My Little Girl, starring Jennifer Lopez, and has since starred in several other films. She has also performed extensively with the Philadelphia Dance Company. As the daughter of John E. Allen, Jr., founder and artistic director of Freedom Theatre, the oldest African American theater in Pennsylvania, is no stranger to the stage. In 2010 she performed in the Fountain Theatre’s production of The Ballad of Emmett Till, which won the 2010 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Best Ensemble. Other plays include August Wilson’s Jitney and Freedom Theatre’s own Black Nativity, where she played Mary.

About Kyla Garcia

Kyla Garcia is an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. Born and raised in Hoboken, New Jersey, she discovered acting at the age of eight when she played Lady Macbeth in a children’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy. She made her off-Broadway debut at fifteen when she played Dorothy in Oz: A Twisted Musical. Eleven years after she discovered her passion for acting, she would go on to play Lady Macbeth once again in London at the Globe Theatre, where she studied Shakespeare during her third year at Mason Gross School of the Arts. She received her BFA in acting from Rutgers University.

About Stacy Gonzalez

Stacy Gonzalez is feisty, bright, and expressive. She specializes in YA, self-help, and romance, especially when the narration calls for a good handle on comedy, wit, and sass. AudioFile magazine has praised her pace and her ability to create bold characters. Stacy, who is half Colombian, speaks conversational Spanish. She has a great love for Old Hollywood-watching the movies and listening to audiobooks about any and every aspect of it.

About Alex Boyles

Alex Boyles has been acting pretty much his entire life. He got his BA in theater–acting/directing performance from CSU Long Beach and his MFA in acting performance from Ohio State University. He started narrating audiobooks in 2019 and hasn’t looked back!

About Zac Aleman

Zac Aleman is a bilingual audiobook narrator who has a great ear for dialects and accents. When not recording, he can be found spending time with his family or relaxing with a great audiobook.

About Tim Lounibos

Tim Lounibos is a longtime film/TV actor whose credits include Star Trek: The Next Generation, JAG, The West Wing, Bosch, and NCIS. Tim's voice has been described as rich, soothing, expressive, gritty, and honest. He loves bringing conflicted heroes, misunderstood characters, wise elders, and sinister antagonists to life. His favorite genres include fantasy/sci-fi, crime, mystery/thriller, YA, horror, self-help, and biography. When not acting, Tim enjoys playing board games, solving escape rooms, and laughing and hanging with family and friends.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Madison ✨ on December 31, 2025

Looking at other reviews, I appear to be alone in my negative reading of this. First and foremost, I must say the topic in general -- examining ACEs and their impact on juveniles who end up committing crimes -- is extremely important. As an appellate defense attorney, I am often looking into the bac......more

Goodreads review by Dea on October 04, 2025

"Children do not become criminals for no reason-- A fundamental misunderstanding happens when we fail to see the person in the context of their environment." Wendy Smith does a beautiful job integrating 20 real, emotional life stories with fascinating, well-researched facts and statistics about hum......more

Goodreads review by Sarah on August 01, 2025

Book Review: Before Their Crimes: What We’re Misunderstanding about Childhood Trauma, Youth Crime, and the Path to Healing by Wendy Smith Rating: 5/5 Wendy Smith’s Before Their Crimes is a transformative exploration of the intersection between childhood trauma and juvenile crime, blending rigorous res......more

Goodreads review by Gee on September 19, 2025

Masterfully written, exhaustively researched, and above all undeniably humane, "Before Their Crimes" is an unmissable read for anyone interested in knowing what makes people descend into criminality and violence; as well as how to break the cycle before it repeats itself. Few non-fiction books have......more

Goodreads review by Jas on October 28, 2025

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Academic for this ARC of Before Their Crimes by Wendy Smith. Before Their Crimes is a poignant and informative book which blends real life accounts of criminals and their childhoods with psychological research and findings. It groups experiences of individuals where......more

Quotes

“Through compelling real-life cases, Before Their Crimes illustrates that the human capacity to heal and transform can survive against all odds. Dr. Wendy Smith’s passion for her work is obvious throughout as she urges and practices compassion for even the most serious offenders.”

“The key to improving public safety is understanding what led to criminal behavior in the first place and addressing the issues during incarceration. Before Their Crimes makes a notable contribution toward the understanding and insight needed to bring about constructive change.”

“Wendy Smith has written a powerful and deeply moving book. It is that rare combination of emotion, factual insights, and inspiration. Read it and savor it and encourage others to read it.”

“With profound insight into science and theory, Dr. Wendy Smith invites us to discover compassion in the roots of human experience, revealing that chance shapes our destinies as powerfully as choice—a truth made starkly visible in the lives of those impacted by incarceration.”

“Before Their Crimes uncovers an epidemic of childhood trauma, the redemptive qualities of everyone, and the true path towards healing.”

“Through interviews with multiple juvenile offenders who had been sentenced to lengthy prison terms, including life sentences, Dr. Wendy Smith has written a primer on the impact of trauma, including physical and sexual abuse, substance abuse, loss of loved ones, and abandonment…Dr. Smith illustrates how healing can occur and ultimately lead to a rebirth of hope for a meaningful life.”

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