Cyntoia Brown: A Critique of the Juvenile Justice System - Paper Example

Introduction

Cyntoia Brown was convicted for the murder of one John, who she suspected was pursuing her and would have killed her anyway. Thus, she did what was best for her and killed John in what she would refer to as self-defense. The case happened back in 2004 and has been filmed in 2019 and released three months ago (Birman, 2020). It criticizes the juvenile system of Tennessee and the U.S as a whole. It is essential to consider the mental state of a victim before defining the capability and motive of the crime. Most drug users are mostly under substance influence when committing crimes.

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The relationship between Cyntoia’s childhood parenting and her cognitive state

Her defendants analyzed Cyntoia Brown’s health upon her arrest, and they dug deeper into her background. It came put Cyntoia’s mother was a heavy alcoholic before, during, and even after pregnancy. Thus, Cyntoia suffered from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome even before she was born (Birman, 2020). All her life, Brown has been a victim of severe impulse control issues, mood swings, depression, paranoia, and many other mental issues (Butcher et al., 2017). Her alcoholic mother most likely had no time for her that she had to turn into drug trafficking to survive in the streets. Thus, it is evident that Ms. Brown’s mental issues are a result of poor parenting.

Reasons for Emotional, Cognitive, and Mental Change

Brown realized that her condition did not necessarily define who she was. She wanted to figure out her identity without the influence of drugs. Therefore, while in prison, she felt remorseful that she most likely shot an innocent man (Birman, 2020). Her pursuit of reconnecting with her identity may have resulted from the remorse. Also, she had psychiatrists to her aid that guided her (Butcher et al., 2017). The two degrees she earned show how determined she was to achieve a second chance through parole.

Change triggers and reasons why she was evaluated by a psychiatrist twice.

The change was triggered by her desire to have a second chance in life as a drug-free individual since all her sixteen years had been wasted. A victim of rape, assault, drug abuse, and drug trafficking that has been branded a prostitute is a difficult one to recover fully. Brown had had drug use issues even before she was born (Birman, 2020). Her system had been intoxicated through the nine months of pregnancy, and even afterward, she found her way into alcoholism. She has been using other drugs as well. Thus, for her to fully recover after fifteen years in prison requires gradual change (Butcher et al., 2017). Brown had to be evaluated by a psychologist twice to ascertain that she had fully recovered before being released on parole.

Correlation between Nature and Nurture

The nature of Brown, which implies her biological structure had tampered while she was a mere fetus. Thus, the first sixteen years of her life were spent in this intoxication. The environment, which is the nurture, made her lose hope in better things in life (Birman, 2020). Her life revolved around rape, drug use, and drug trafficking. However, the murder of John worked to her advantage as she received full transformation in prison.

Relationship between the Documentary and Abnormal Psychology.

The documentary is relative to Abnormal Psychology, which is the study of unusual behaviors in people that mostly affects their well-being and that of the people around them (Birman, 2020). The documentary features Cyntoia Brown, whose cognitive healthy was tampered with from the time of pregnancy. Similarly, abnormal psychology seeks to unveil underlying factors that affect a patient’s current state and behavior (Butcher et al., 2017).

References

Birman, D.H. (2020). Murder To Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story. Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/81074065

Butcher, J. N., Mineka, S., & Hooley, J. M. (2017). Abnormal psychology. Pearson Education, India.