Cyntonia Brown was only 16 years when she got sold as a sex worker and jailed for first-degree murder. The man Cyntonia murdered had bought her for his sexual pleasure, and she killed him after having thought that he was pulling his gun out to shoot her. Cyntonia, having been a homeless runaway had not only had experiences moments in and out of the juvenile prison but also had experienced various forms of assaults as well as forced multiple rapes. She identifies her then 24-year-old boyfriend Kut Throat as the man who introduced her to prostitution, as he frequently sold her for money.
Kut Throat, whose real name was Garion Mcglothen, had lived with Cyntonia in motels within Nashville held her captive and introduced her to cocaine. According to Cyntonia, McGlothen would also send her to various men for sex, hit, and even rape her in case she did not bring the money he needed. He also made Cyntonia believe that other people were born to be prostitution, and she was one of them; and that no one would ever love her than himself. Cyntonia maintains that she had no option but to learn to become a good slut.
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It was within the same context that Cyntonia was picked by a 43-year old man Johnny Allen at a fast-food outlet in 2004. Johnny Allen who had initially introduced himself to Cyntonia as a retired police officer was later found to have been a real estate agent. According to the documentary, he bought Cyntonia some snacks and offered to pay her $150 for sex. He, however, refused to spend a night with Cyntonia at a motel, insisting that he was alone in his house and he would have loved to take her home. Cyntonia maintained that the collection of guns showed to her had frightened her, and later made her shoot him to defend herself. However, according to the police, Allen was found nude on the bed with his hand supporting his head as if he was sleeping. As a result, the police charged her with robbery as well as first-degree murder; because she did not only shot him but also took his truck, guns as well as his wallet.
The psychologist found a correlation between the experiences of Cyntonia ’s biological relatives and her own. It is apparent that Cyntonia’s biological mother not only gave birth to her when she was 16 years but also landed in prison shortly after. Similarly, there is a history of psychological disorder amongst her biological relatives. He biological mother speaks of her sister, aunts, and dad who had committed suicide. She also confesses to occasionally feeling suicidal and had a tattoo on her right arm written ‘suicide’. Cyntonia’s biological grandmother also narrates her experiences of sexual abuse that related to her daughter’s and granddaughter’s experiences. Her adoptive mother regards her as initially having been extremely possessive when she was growing up. At around 16 years, she became more distant and secretive. She kept most of her thoughts feelings and experiences to herself without telling anyone.
The major social violation committed by Cyntonia was to kill. She also defied the norm by living the life of an adult as a child. First, Cyntonia had run away from home to take care of herself as a young teenager. This is against the social norms as children are expected to stay under the care of their parents until they are above 18years when they are considered as adults. Similarly, Cytonia got involved in practices such as drug abuse and prostitution. Children at her age are expected to stay away from prostitution and are strongly discouraged from abusing drugs and substances such as cocaine.
The theory of social norms can guide the questions that need to be answered to determine the reasons behind Cyntonia ’s violation of social expectations. According to the theory, people do what they do because they are expected to behave in a certain manner by society. They can also behave the way they do to make progress, solve problems, attain goals, learn as well as to increase the way they value themselves. Others act just for fun, to gain peace, for self-fulfilment, and to fulfil their responsibilities and their beliefs. Occasionally, individuals can behave the way they do to survive, as a response to fright as well as to challenge or defy the social norms. Given the responses, it is clear that a person can behave in a particular way either to meet the expectations of others or as a result of their motivation. Agénor (2018) classifies actions resulting from a person’s quest to meet societal expectations as interdependent behaviours, while those resulting form a person’s motivation and beliefs as independent behaviour. Similarly, Bicchieri (2016) outlines three types of basic beliefs that influence an individual's behaviours; factual beliefs, personal normative beliefs, as well as social expectations. Factual beliefs are those regarding how the world should is. Personal beliefs are and the ideas a person holds on how the world should be. The social expectation is the thoughts about what the surrounding people would do if they were in the same situation, as well as how others think they should behave.
Despite individuals having a system of beliefs regarding how the world is, how it should be and what they are expected to do, preferences play a great role in determining their choices. Lam (2016) distinguishes preferences from liking. According to Lam, a person may prefer to do things that they don't approve or like in difficult situations, in the same manner, a sailor would decide to toss valuable cargos if they feel that the action would save their vessel from capsizing. Similarly, a teenager would prefer to join a group of other children teasing their close friends under social pressure.
To understand why Cyntonia behaved the way she did, it is important to first find out her personal beliefs, normative beliefs as well as how she thought she was expected to behave. It is also important to determine the nature of the situation, its complexity, and her preferences given the circumstance she was in. it is also crucial to determine whether her preference was unconditional or whether she killed as a result of thinking that others would do the same in her situation. Moreover, it would be important to determine the reference network of individuals whose opinion mattered to Cyntonia as she committed an action that defied the social norm.
Given Cyntonia's environment and life with his boyfriend as a runaway child, she gained a new system of beliefs as to how she was felt she needed to behave and expected to behave based on her daily experiences of violence, rape and death threats. She was even made to believe that she was born to be a prostitute and that no one could love her. Her knowledge of her would complicate her perception of events when with Allan when she saw the guns. The guns around Allan's house rekindled Cyntonia's insecurities; when Allan stretched his hand down while lying on the bed she thought that he was reaching for the gun and shot him instead.
The legal system dealt with Cyntonia as an adult for a crime she committed as a minor. The decision grant Cyntonia a lifetime imprisonment overlooked the fact that there were other factors that were beyond Cyntonia’s control that contributed to her decision to shoot Allan. Children ought to be protected by adults at all time, and Cyntonia was not an exceptional. She needed to be protected from sex slave that not only robbed her childhood but also planted negative thoughts and feelings in her mind. The legal system should have considered Cyntonia as mere misguided child, and should have held her boyfriend responsible for the crime that she committed for enslaving and misguiding her. Cyntonia’s sentence should have short and aimed at rehabilitating her rather than punishing her for the act.
References
Agénor, P.R. (2018). A Theory of Social Norms, Women’s Time Allocation, and Gender Inequality in the Process of Development,” (No. 237). Economics, The University of Manchester.
Bicchieri, C. (2016). Measuring Social Norms.
Lam, A. (2016). A Theory of Social Norms and Migration (Doctoral dissertation, University of Victoria).
