Cyntoia Brown vs. The Law
By: Priscilla Mendoza
Tags: Domestic Violence, Violence Against Women, Prison, Racism, Race

The injustices of the law and race towards Cyntoia Brown.

Cyntoia Brown was prostituted by her boyfriend at the age of 16, that went by the alias of “Kut Throat.” She was then sold to a 43 year old Johnny Mitchell Allen, where he abused and used her for sex. One night they laid naked after he had raped her. She thought he was reaching for a gun under the bed and she got scared and reached out for her gun in her purse and ended up killing him. She drove off with his car, wallet and guns. When she was found, authorities sent her to jail, she “…was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery in the killing of a man who hired her as a prostitute,” said the article of NPR. Brown has been in jail serving a life sentence and when the lawyer argued that it was unconstitutional due to her age, the court determined that she would have the possibility of parole in 51 years, Brown would be around 69 years old.

They incarcerated Brown for self defense. It is hard not to believe that because she is African American she was tried as an adult instead of a minor and for that given a harder sentence. The prison system is built from the idea of obtaining justice to the victim and resocializing people to be part of society again. We are allowed to know what the structure of prisons are, however the rapes and injustices are not made public. Nethertheless the reasons why people are being put in jail are also very discriminatory and racist.

For example, Cyntoia Brown was given a life sentence and a possibility of parole after 51 years. She was being prostituted at the age of 16 and took a chance on her life outcome in order to save herself. However, for the court she is a murderer and a thief and for that reason she deserves a life sentence. Brown wasn’t old enough to vote yet, and she was filed as an adult for a crime she did under self defense. In the article from Tennesean the attorney said, “‘This was a seriously mentally impaired girl, subject to the immaturity and impulsiveness of all juveniles but to a much greater degree, who had been abandoned by her parents and whose only refuge was a pimp who sexually and physically abused her,” the appeal said.” The attorney was trying to use her age in her favor to say that she wasn’t maturely thinking when she shot her predator. He was trying to make the jury feel empathy to Brown due to her life and her age, however, that wasn’t enough.

Most of the women who are victims of domestic violence usually end up being punished for speaking up. In the article, Public Imprisonment and Private Violence Reflections on the Hidden Punishment of Women by Angela Y. Davis, she states, “Domestic violence as a form of punishment is rarely perceived as integrally connected to the modes of punishment implemented by the State. Many recent studies recognize that large numbers of imprisoned women are survivors of family violence.” It is discouraging to other women when they see that women who have been suffering from domestic violence end up being imprisoned and put to more danger in jail. In this article Davis goes into detail about what women are against when they go to jail. Victims are not protected nor understood, they face rape, discrimination, and assault in jail.

Looking at Brown’s case and how she was treated prior entering prison till today, has been full of unfortunate events. They didn’t allow her to see a better side to life. She was abused and raped at such a young age and then sent to jail just to experience the same type of behavior. Even though these facts are usually not disclosed it is no surprise that these activities happen. She is an African American woman who was abused all her life and now she is being abused by the law which is supposed to be on her side, but her skin color leaves her vulnerable to more abuse.

The only reason why her case was even recognized after 14 years was because Kim Kardashian and Rihanna among other celebrities used their platform to speak about it. They also created a petition so the judge would reconsider the case and determine a more reasonable outcome. Nothing has been finalized yet, but media has taken the role to show awareness of her case. She doesn’t deserve a life sentence just because she didn’t grow up in a healthy environment where she had people rooting for her. She has been abused and has never been treated any different. Not by the people who raised her and not by the law.