Saturday 15 October 2011

Downtown Library (Cyntoia Documentary) Review

@Tianna Marie
The documentary presented at the downtown public library entitled Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story was truly spellbinding and shocking. The introduction of the film was made by a lady on the committee for Independent Lens and she promptly explained a summa...ry of the film. The documentary followed Cyntoia Brown; a 16 year old bright young lady that had made some bad mistakes in life and got sentenced to 51 years in prison without the possibility of parol. She was raped and abused in early teenage years by her pimp "Cut Throat". Her birth mother and grandmama also went through abuse as teens and adults; the grandmama once tried to commit suicide. In the documentary Cyntoia's physcologist William Bernet said she had some signs of a "personality disorder" due to the amount of trauma she had been through. Though she had signs of the disorder, she was not diagnosed with it and they didn't mention it in court. In the closing of the film it showed a clip of Cyntoia viewing herself as a teen and how far she has come. From this case, I believe Tennessee should have some sort of Restorative Justice program for teens. With Restorative Justice you could make sure the teen knows what they did wrong and restore them to a good citizen instead of giving them a life sentence and saying justice is served. Too many juries and judges just throw kids in jail without looking at their background and where they come from. Alot of people are arguing that she knew what she was doing, but I still think she deserves another chance at life. Also, researchers at Darmout College found a persons brain is not fully developed until they are around the age of 25. In 2008, the average cost for a inmate in Tennessee was 18,206 dollars; enough to send a student to college. The screening of the documentary was preceded by an activity called, A Bend in the River. A Bend in the River is a rehabilitation process that helps troubled teens remember and recite the dilemmas that have come up in their life. I think this activity shows you should never forget what happens throughout your life no matter how bad it is. The whole documentary was outstanding and it told a story that many "at risk" teens are going through or have went through. The documentary brings out many teens are given life at an age where their brain is not fully developed.

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Seeking Changes in the irrational and illogical Juvenile sentencing laws,
we developed the One Child at a Time Network.
One Child will highlight, Advocate and Campaign for the end of life without Parole for all Juvenile Defendants, seek the abolishment of Juveniles tried in Adult Court rooms and fight for recognition of the benefits of Rehabilative methods rather than Retributive.

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