Cyntoia Brown’s story begins and ends in sadness. Her life was never an easy one. Cyntoia was “dealt a bad hand” from the very beginning. The chances that she would turn to a life of crime were only increased as time passed. The cumulative result of various factors is a life sentence for Cyntoia and the death of John Allen. Cyntoia’s family added to the likelihood of her becoming a killer in both ways of nature and nurture. Her biological mother, Georgia (a product of rape herself), gave birth to Cyntoia when she was 16 years old after a sexual assault. Georgia exposed Cyntoia to several factors that increased the probability that Cyntoia would develop personality disorders. Georgia drank during her pregnancy and she was ultimately
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Cyntoia has always needed to view the world through the lens of survival. She used drugs to help with the pain from personal experiences, likely self-medicating depression and post-traumatic stress disorder with controlled substances. Cyntoia had suffered from several instances of sexual and physical abuse. Finally, Cyntoia was participating in an illegal act when her crime took place, and she was alone with a man she had never met. She had no friends or family who knew where she was. The environment was already a dangerous one when this fact is considered. Cyntoia did not know the man she was with and had no reason to believe that he was any different than men who had harmed her in the past. Her personality disorder merely contributed paranoia that led Cyntoia to reach the conclusion that John Allen, the 43 year old man Cyntoia ultimately killed, was about to kill her. It is also likely that Cyntoia had encounters with law enforcement during her time as a prostitute. The difference that could have been made from a rehabilitative and interventional standpoint will never be known. Personality disorders and a less-than-satisfactory family history are no excuse for homicide. We learn that in the case of Cyntoia Brown. Although she was suffering from paranoia caused by her borderline personality disorder, she still understood right from wrong and made the decision to take a man’s life. She will pay for that decision by spending the rest of her life in prison, though one could argue that, at the time of the crime, her life had barely
Cyntoia has always needed to view the world through the lens of survival. She used drugs to help with the pain from personal experiences, likely self-medicating depression and post-traumatic stress disorder with controlled substances. Cyntoia had suffered from several instances of sexual and physical abuse. Finally, Cyntoia was participating in an illegal act when her crime took place, and she was alone with a man she had never met. She had no friends or family who knew where she was. The environment was already a dangerous one when this fact is considered. Cyntoia did not know the man she was with and had no reason to believe that he was any different than men who had harmed her in the past. Her personality disorder merely contributed paranoia that led Cyntoia to reach the conclusion that John Allen, the 43 year old man Cyntoia ultimately killed, was about to kill her. It is also likely that Cyntoia had encounters with law enforcement during her time as a prostitute. The difference that could have been made from a rehabilitative and interventional standpoint will never be known. Personality disorders and a less-than-satisfactory family history are no excuse for homicide. We learn that in the case of Cyntoia Brown. Although she was suffering from paranoia caused by her borderline personality disorder, she still understood right from wrong and made the decision to take a man’s life. She will pay for that decision by spending the rest of her life in prison, though one could argue that, at the time of the crime, her life had barely