(ThyBlackMan.com) “Why is it that police officers can use the defense that they “feared for their lives” but a 16 year old sex-trafficking victim who killed in self-defense will be in prison until she is 70? #CyntoiaBrown must be pardoned or have her sentence commuted.” – @RoKhanna (Twitter)
Recently in the news, the country has been discussing the case of Cyntoia Brown, who at the time of her conviction, was 16 years-old in 2004 and a victim of sex-trafficking. Brown was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving a life sentence in prison. The state of Tennessee Supreme Court recently denied her chance for parole. She must now serve 51 years before she is eligible for release and the only person, that can pardon her is the current governor, Bill Haslam before he leaves office. The governor has not fully reviewed her case to determine if he is going to grant her clemency.
As an enslaved teenager fearing for her life, Brown like many other girls who is forced into sex-trafficking, killed 43 years-old, Johhny Michael Allen, a white man with money and power. Brown is now 30 years-old, is literally fighting for her freedom and the nation is calling, emailing and texting the governor in a final attempt to help
his decision making process to set her free. She is a grown woman now, but at the time, of the crime, she was traumatized repeatedly by grown men raping her, and she was not mentally and physically capable of making maybe the best decision in that moment, to save her life and possibly keep her freedom.
She has served enough time and deserves a second chance. Our judicial system is not in favor of rehabilitation at all. Instead, it would rather turn its back on real victims of a crime and incarcerate them for basically their entire lives, leaving them with no chance of freedom or to reunite with their loved ones outside of the prison walls. This case is another example, of how voiceless women are in this country while the “white boys clubs” continue to play with their wealth as rich predators and live their lives, at the cost of a woman’s freedom. The system failed her.
Rapper Meek Mill who was released earlier this year, is raising his voice around the country and in his new album about prison reform said also in a tweet, “Free this girl!!!!!!!!! We come from the same circumstances….trying to save your own life could get you life in prison.”
Young girls are introduced to sex-trafficking and there are rare stories of those who become survivors. Granting her clemency can help empower her, for the time in her life that she already lost behind those prison walls and could be the beginning of so many other opportunities for young girls and women who have been victims of sex-trafficking. Instead of incarcerating the victims, our judicial system needs to lock up literally and throw away the keys on sexual predators like Johnny Allen.
Money and power has always ruled our current criminal justice system and there is no surprise that this case, clearly confirms that theory. Her counterparts at that age, white males, get off with sexual misconduct crimes all of the time, facing the minimum to no time in jail or prison and paying their way out of the crimes that they committed. But women of color continue to be pushed into the prison system, a system that was never designed for them anyway.
Staff Writer; Felicia T. Simpson
One may also connect with this sister online over at; FTSimpson.com.