Trigger warnings in criminology teaching contexts: Some reflections based on ten years of teaching a sensitive topic

The concept of “Trigger Warnings” has recently emerged in the Higher Education landscape and is proving to be both controversial and challenging to implement. Some educators frame “trigger warnings” as an ethical practice linked to pastoral care for students, others see them as a dangerous concept that can potentially erode the choice of topics we expose students to. The chapter draws on the learning and teaching practices delivered in the course Crime, Law and Trauma. The chapter examines the different ways in which trigger warnings are delivered in different contexts—teaching and non-teaching—to explore precisely how and when we might issue trigger warnings when teaching criminology topics that contain material that poses a potential to distress students.