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archytas 's review for:
Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System
by Cyntoia Brown-Long
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I knew this would be a hell of a story, but I didn't expect the ferocious intelligence behind the telling. It made me realise that thete are manu, many other children convicted in relation to their own trafficking and abuse who don't have the family support, the legal team and the high IQ that contributed to Brown's campaign.
The book's focus is on Brown's experiences, and the night she shot the man who picked her up for sex is not discussed in detail. Brown is clear, however, in acknowledging that she as a teenager she made some pretty awful decisions. The issue is the context around those choices - trauma, trafficking, drugs - often without her consent - and fetal alcohol syndrome for starters. It is a little heartbreaking that it took a decade from her conviction for her to realise that she, as an imprisoned and sexually assualted teenager, was a trafficking victim not "just a whore" who deserved it. And this took so long because a system that claims to protect children reinforces this view. There are still, she points out, more young teenagers charged as a result of sex work than there are trafficking prosecutions, even though most US laws are supposed to ensure the opposite.
But there are many great parts of this story too - people in broken systems who try to make it better. It should be easier for them.
The book's focus is on Brown's experiences, and the night she shot the man who picked her up for sex is not discussed in detail. Brown is clear, however, in acknowledging that she as a teenager she made some pretty awful decisions. The issue is the context around those choices - trauma, trafficking, drugs - often without her consent - and fetal alcohol syndrome for starters. It is a little heartbreaking that it took a decade from her conviction for her to realise that she, as an imprisoned and sexually assualted teenager, was a trafficking victim not "just a whore" who deserved it. And this took so long because a system that claims to protect children reinforces this view. There are still, she points out, more young teenagers charged as a result of sex work than there are trafficking prosecutions, even though most US laws are supposed to ensure the opposite.
But there are many great parts of this story too - people in broken systems who try to make it better. It should be easier for them.