The Promising Prospective Justice: Ketanji Brown Jackson

After Justice Steven Breyer announced that he would retire from the Supreme Court, President Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to fill his position, making her the first black woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice of the United States.

According to the White House, Biden nominated Judge Jackson because he sought for a candidate “with exceptional credentials, unimpeachable character, and unwavering dedication to the rule of law”. Additionally, he wished to nominate a Justice who would be “committed to equal justice under the law and who understands the profound impact that the Supreme Court’s decisions have on the lives of the American people.”

Judge Jackson’s judicial philosophy appears to be in alignment with that of Justice Stephen Breyer, in fact, she served as Breyer’s law clerk from 1999-2000. Her education and professional history boasts of her excellence. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, and cum laude from Harvard Law School. She has held numerous clerking positions for federal judges, she was a federal public defender, she was a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit from 2013 to 2021, and currently presides as a judge for the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Judge Jackson, if appointed, will be the modern court’s first Justice who has experience as a public defender, which promises to bring a unique perspective to the court.

Along with her unique perspective as a former public defender, being the first black woman on the Supreme Court will surely influence her judicial decisions. However, in her opening remarks, Judge Jackson explained that she “ ha[s] been a judge for nearly a decade now, and [she] take[s] that responsibility, and [her] duty to be independent, very seriously.” Despite fear from conservative legislators who are opposed to Biden’s appointment, Judge Jackson “decide[s] cases from a neutral posture[...] [she] evaluate[s] the facts, and [she] interpret[s] and appl[ies] the law to the facts of the case before [her] without fear or favor, consistent with [her] judicial oath. [She] know[s] that [her] role as a judge is a limited one.”

Throughout the Senate hearings, Judge Jackson has remained cool, calm, and collected, making her one of the highest approved Supreme Court Justices. According to public opinion polls Gallup, Fox, Monmouth University, Quinnipac University, and Pew Research Center, on average 53% of Americans support her confirmation whereas 26% of Americans oppose her confirmation.

It is my sincere hope that Judge Jackson is confirmed to the Supreme Court. Not only is she extremely qualified, but she has a unique perspective as not only a black woman, but also as a public defender. I believe she can bring a fresh perspective to the Court, and because she is young, she can do so for a long period of time. Additionally, I believe it is pivotal for the Court to have a new Justice who is popular within the general public. The previous two appointments were more controversial, lessening public approval of the Supreme Court. The Court can only operate if it is viewed as legitimate, and Judge Jackson's popularity if she is confirmed may boost public morale behind the Court.

The Period Problem

“In the red tent, the truth is known. In the red tent, where days pass like a gentle stream, as the gift of Inanna courses through us, cleansing the body of last month’s death, preparing the body to receive the new month’s life, women give thanks — for repose and restoration, for the knowledge that life comes from between our legs, and that life costs blood.”

― Anita Diamant, The Red Tent

Genesis 3 details the story of Adam and Eve, the mythological birth of original sin. In the story, a serpent tempts Eve with the forbidden fruit of knowledge of good and evil. Eve sees the beauty of the delectable fruit, and she hears the promises of power the serpent makes about what will happen when she eats the fruit, so she takes a bite of it, and gives some to her husband. Upon eating the fruit, Adam and Eve realize that they are naked and make themselves clothes, unleashing shame on humanity for all time to come. When God sees what Adam and Eve have done, he unleashes unto them multiple punishments, with women getting the worse punishment. God tells Eve, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” (Genesis 3:16). Thus, in Genesis was the birth not only of shame, but the shame around female reproduction. Female functions: menstruation, childbirth became punishment from original sin, the torment of human existence. The mythology of the female body that has emerged from this bible story, and all stories like it, has resulted in stigma, and shame over biological function, especially menstruation. This stigma has been detrimental to women’s health, and women’s position in society. It has left women isolated, ashamed, embarrassed, sequestered. It has emboldened the idea that women’s bodies must be kept secret; they are too dirty to expose to the world. The stigma around menstruation must be lifted on a wide socio-cultural scale. Candid conversations on the reality of being in a female body must be had on a global scale, because women deserve to appreciate and advocate for their beautiful, complex biology. The female body is mystifying and powerful. The female body grows life, it tells time just as the sun and moon. It is imperative that women view their bodies in this way, for the continuation of shame centered on the female body leaves women vulnerable to low self esteem, illness, and poor conditions. In this paper I will outline how menstruation has become a social stigma, and I will show how this social stigma has negatively impacted women’s mental and physical health across the globe. I will then argue that society must take strides to eliminate the stigma around menstruation through candid conversations and direct measures to ensure the safety of the world’s women.

Stigmas mark or separate people who have a ‘defect.’ Stigmatization originated from a practice of the ancient greeks, where criminals and slaves were branded to mark their status as such (Goffman 1963). The ancient Greeks who were not branded acted with contempt and disgust towards branded individuals, avoiding all social interactions with these people (Goffman 1963). Stigmatized individuals thus became a danger, something that must be seen so as to be controlled (Johnston-Robledo, Chrisler 2013). In the journal Sex Roles: A Journal of Research Ingrid Johnson-Robledo and Joan Chrisler authored the article “The Menstrual Mark: Menstruation as Social Stigma.” In this article, the authors argue that menstruation is a source of social stigma for women (Johnston-Robledo, Chrisler 2013). Johnson-Robledo and Chrisler bring forward that menstrual blood is viewed as more disgusting than other bodily fluids such as breast milk and semen, and visible signs of menstruation “represent emblems of girl’s contamination”(Johnston-Robledo, Chrisler 2013). This article also illuminates research that shows “empirically even reminders of menstrual blood (e.g tampons) can lead to avoidance and social distancing, which suggests that menstrual blood may serve as a blemish on womens character,” its visibility is the physical reminder that a woman’s body is not that of the privileged male body (Johnston-Robledo, Chrisler 2013). Furthermore, this article brings forward that “menstruation is more like a hidden than a visible stigma because women go to a great deal of effort to conceal it (Oxley 1998). Menstrual hygiene products (e.g., tampons, pads) are designed to absorb fluid and odors, not to be visible through one's clothes, to be small enough to carry unobtrusively in one's purse, and to be discreetly discarded in a bathroom container. It is usually not possible to know for certain that a woman is menstruating unless she says so or unless menstrual blood leaks through her clothes and exposes her then stigmatized condition” (Johnston-Robledo, Chrisler 2013). The framing of menstruation as disgusting, and the desire to hide this biological process alienates women, marking them as “other.”

While differences between the sexes are not intrinsically wrong, there is no such aversion for male biology. As a result of this stigma, female bodies and minds are outcasted, their experiences are silenced. They are forced to grapple with the reality of being in a female body in secret. This secret is tightly sealed and concealed because women are other, they are the second sex. Their experience is not known except for that it is not part of mankind. In Simone de Beauvoir's pivotal feminist philosophy The Second Sex De Beauvoir asserts that throughout history men are considered the default, and women are considered to be other. Men and women alike define women not in relation to themselves, but in relation to men, but this cannot work. When confronted with the reality of being a woman, what child bearing truly entails, the horror of feminine fertility is exposed, an experience so starkly different to men that women are considered almost alien. In order to align themselves with the ideal male body, women have hidden menstruation. In hiding this process, they have allowed for a narrative to persist that something is wrong with women because they menstruate and men do not. However, nothing is wrong with women, and the simple fact is life is not possible without both male and female biological processes. Significant strides for women have been made since DeBeauvoir authored this book in 1949. Women have now secured space in society, and they are not limited to define themselves in relation to men. They are no longer limited to roles as daughter’s, mother’s and grandmother’s; their dreams and aspirations go beyond creating and maintaining families, to being a male counterpart. Women are separate entities, just as any other individual. While these instrumental strides towards gender equality have been made, the taboo around female physiology persists. This taboo, or stigma perpetuates feminine invisibility, nurtures shame and disgust, and leaves women at a stalemate for progress.

The dimension of invisibility, where menstruation must be hidden, has had devastating effects on women. Always, an American brand of menstrual hygiene products, collaborated with WASH United, an organization dedicated to tackling issues of sanitation and hygiene, and Glocalities, a digital marketing firm, to survey and release how the stigmatization of menstruation affects women, both young and old. They collected data from 5 countries, and the results provide compelling insight into the harms this stigmatization causes. According to the survey, 52% of women lose confidence at puberty, and starting their period marked their most profound confidence drop. On average, 41% of women felt ashamed and embarrassed about their period, with 59% of women trying to hide their period. Additionally, less than half of adult women said they support candid conversations about their period, and only 30% of women said that they actually have honest conversations about their period. When people do discuss their period, the conversations are negative; approximately 1 in 3 women referred to their period as gross or disgusting. This has had a demonstrable impact, especially for young women, with 42% of young women feeling self conscious, 33% feeling embarrassed, and 26% feeling less confident. According to the award winning article “Menstrual Management: An Exploratory Study” from the journal Feminism and Psychology reported that “both undergraduate women and women employed in the medical professions reported high levels of self-consciousness during menstruation” (Oxley 1998). Additionally, these women cited extra precautions and activities they avoided during their period: they would wear baggy clothes, they preferred tampons to sanitary napkins, they avoided swimming or sexual activities, and they complained of bloating and break outs (Oxley 1998). What all of these avoidances and precautions have in common is the underlying assumption that these women’s bodies are betraying them, that there is something wrong with them. However, this cannot be the case when menstruation comes down to mere biology, biology of half of the human race. Oxley elaborates further, and advocates for a vastly different approach to tackling the period taboo. She illuminates that if women feel betrayed by their bodies during menstruation, women do not fully accept themselves throughout the duration of their life (Oxley 1998). When their period starts, their love of their body stops and can only resume once their cycle finishes. However, women deserve to love their bodies during all of its phases, and Oxley (2008) argues that cultures must reframe the way menstruation is viewed, they must attempt to reduce the stigma around their bodily function so as to love themselves for the complex beings they are, capable of supporting life.

The stigmatization of menstruation creates not only mental harm, it creates sociological and physical harm as well on a global scale, especially in cultures that are expressly patriarchal such as India. This can be seen clearly in the article “Menstrual Justice: A Missing Element in India’s Health Policies” by Swatija Manorama and Radhika Desai. In India, where this research is directed, menstruation is largely shamed and silenced, “ the demarcation of female bodies as menstruating bodies is embedded deeply within religious, social, cultural, and political milieu and is customarily stigmatizing” (Manorama Desai 2020). As a result of this stigma, Indian women’s health suffers greatly. Authors Manorama and Desai present compelling research from UNICEF, the Indian Institute of Population Studies, and the India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative Collaborators that provide a picture of the health crisis women are dealing with. For example, Girl-children encounter unequal access to the nutritional, medical, and emotional support systems essential to basic health, approximately 38% girls under five are stunted, 21% are wasted, and 36% are underweight. Additionally, in the age group 15–19, 47% are underweight, compared to 22.9% in the age group 15–49. Based on this data, the authors conclude, “given their scale, these nutritional imbalances have a significant impact on menstrual health, as poor nutrition can delay menarche and disrupt the menstrual cycle” (Manorama Desai 2020). Additionally, their reproductive health suffers as well because there is “sociocultural silence and shame of what constitutes a ‘normal’ period, [and] Indian women often refrain from reporting symptoms associated with gynecological morbidities; they consider symptoms such as severe pain to be part and parcel of being women” (Manorama Desai 2020). The authors present data showing that Reproductive Tract Infections (RTIs) and menstrual disorders are among the most commonly observed gynecological morbidities, with increased incidence in older women, poor women, women with lower literacy, married women, and impoverished women (Manorama Desai 2020). RTI’s and menstrual disorders leading to death basically means that these women are just not taking care of themselves at a basic level, or getting the help they need in a timely fashion; they are extremely preventable ailments. To remedy the health crises of these women in India, as well as nations with similar cultural values, the authors propose a non reductionist approach to women’s health, an approach that goes beyond what has been ordinarily valued such as fertility to address the discrimination, and human rights violations that deem women’s bodies as “impure” on sociological and religious level (Manorama Desai 2020).

Part of the problem with menstruation being seen as something wrong with women is that it has caused taking sanitary precautions to become a luxury instead of a necessity. According to the National Organization for Women, the average woman spends twenty dollars a cycle on feminine hygiene products, amounting to about eighteen thousand dollars during their lifetime (Kim 2021). This is not cheap, and has had detrimental health effects on women who are impoverished. Homeless women, for example, may not be able to afford the feminine hygiene products that they need. Homelessness is a problem within itself, and homeless shelters often lack the resources to provide enough feminine hygiene products to overcrowded populations for the duration of homeless women's entire cycles. As a result, homeless women may overuse the few products given to them, and this over use in turn results in physical health problems. The over-use of pads and tampons can lead to toxic shock syndrome, when staph bacteria infects the blood stream and can cause sudden death, and the buildup of other bacteria may also wreak havoc on a woman’s health. Additionally, if a homeless woman is forced to use toilet paper or other objects as a makeshift sanitary napkin, they expose themselves to bacteria that can lead to yeast infections and urinary tract infections. Furthermore, women who are homeless may be denied access to general hygiene. They may be unable to shower and wash themselves. Compounded with the stigmatization of menstruation, women being unable to clean themselves as they menstruate creates an entirely separate horror. Not only are they denied the dignity of general hygiene, they feel exponentially more unclean, embarrassed, and alone during their cycle, and they may not seek help because of this deep stigmatization. While there is increased discourse surrounding the plight of women who are homeless, and many organizations have taken direct measures to provide homeless shelters with access to feminine hygiene products, there is still a general lack of discussion of how women faced with life crises must grapple with menstruation. An example of this would be women imprisoned in concentration camps during the holocaust. In Marion Kaplan’s article in the Feminist Studies Journal, her article “Jewish Women in Nazi Germany: Daily Life, Daily Struggles” asserts that “racism and persecution as well as survival meant something different for women than men—in practical and psychological terms” (Kaplan 1990). Women in the Holocaust were not only confronted with the horrors of the Holocaust as seen through public eyes, they were also forced to struggle with their physiology which added an alternative layer of torture. One woman who survived the Holocaust details why the lack of feminine supplies was especially horrific in JoAnn Owusu’s feature for History Today. The feature highlights Trude Levi’s account of coping with menstruation in camps, “We had no water to wash ourselves, we had no underwear. We could go nowhere. Everything was sticking to us, and for me, that was perhaps the most dehumanizing thing of everything”(Owusu 2019). Owusu elaborates on this stating that in her research “many women have talked about how menstruating with no access to supplies made them feel subhuman. It is the specific ‘dirt’ of menstruation more than any other dirt, and the fact that their menstrual blood marked them as female, that made these women feel as though they were the lowest level of humanity” (Owusu 2019). Likewise, in all human travesties similar and dissimilar to the Holocaust, through all human rights violations, women are denied dignity in a way that is all encompassing.

With the same gusto that people have fought for women’s right to vote, the right for a woman to not be discriminated against, and for general fairness that exists today, people must fight the stigmatization of menstruation to ensure women’s bodies do not remain invisible. In Jennifer Weiss Wolff’s article “U.S. Policymaking to Address Menstruation: Advancing an Equity Agenda” Wolff illuminates how in recent years starting in 2015, the movement for “menstrual equity” has cultivated meaningful change in public policy, and this change has facilitated in the upheaval of menstrual stigma. Over the past decade, activist have sought to remove the ‘tampon tax,’ the tax placed on feminine hygiene products that is not only discriminatory in an economic sense, but also provides barriers for women who cannot afford it. Discussions about the ‘tampon tax’ and the problems surrounding it have fostered discussions onto the widespread implications of menstruation that are social, economic, medical, and other wise (Wolff 2020). The results of this open forum are very promising, Wolff brings forward that “numerous campaigns to address the taxation of menstrual products have long been underway around the world. Notable examples are Kenya, Canada, England, Malaysia, India, Australia, and South Africa, all countries where the equivalent of sales tax has been successfully challenged” (Wolff 2020). In the United States, legislators have responded to the demand for menstrual equity, Between 2016 and 2018, twenty four state legislators debated on whether or not to get rid of the tampon tax, with successful measures being taken in Chicago, Florida, Connecticut, and Washington D.C. (Wolff 2020). In a hopeful address to the future, Wolff writes that “Menstruation provides an extraordinary lens for discerning whether these measures [towards menstrual equity] enable full, fair societal participation” (Wolff 2020). Wolff advocates that society must go further than product accessibility and safety, because that “is not the end game for a holistic menstrual agenda, or indeed agenda for gender equality” (Wolff 2020). Wolff argues that the end game towards gender equality is to eliminate the stigma around menstruation in the midst of menstrual equity’s policy success, “ the challenge is to move from the tangible, visible, and easily presentable to the underlying menstrual equity challenges that are much more deeply ingrained in society and accentuate gender inequalities” (Wolff 2020). She stresses that there are “possibilities to address these structural challenges [which] are educational opportunities that expand curricula on menstruation—beyond health and hygiene to integrate relevant content in lessons in history, literature, and science. This would go a long way helping to reduce the stigma and create an equitable learning environment” (Wolff 2020). Thus, it is essential that governments across the globe continue to implement policy surrounding menstrual equity because these policies spark conversations and opportunities to educate individuals, lessening the negative stigma surrounding menstruation.

People who menstruate comprise half of the population. Their bodies are no rarity, so why must the stigma around them persist? The stigma around menstruation negatively impacts the mind, body, and spirit of women. It adds additional burden to those who are already suffering, denying them the right to feel dignified and human. Menstruation is not wrong or dirty, and perpetuating this idea fosters otherness. Women are not other, they are not monstrous, gross, or disgusting. Women are life givers. Women carry, within their bodies, the capacity to grow and nurture life, something so precious it ought to be celebrated, not concealed and denigrated. Instead of framing menstruation as alien, secret, vile, and dirty, it should be framed as necessary, pivotal, awe-inspiring. Should menstruation start to be viewed this way, women would feel empowered by their bodies instead of betrayed. Governments and Institutions would seek to protect precious bodies capable of fortifying life for all time to come. Their bodies would no longer be invisible, and they would not have to grapple with their own biology in secret.

Does Trauma Excuse us from Moral Responsibility?

Serial killers capture the imagination of the general public. How could someone be so evil, so destructive? What causes this evil to exist? Who could be capable of committing such heinous crimes? What made them do it? People dedicate their life’s work to understanding serial killers. Psychologists analyze their thoughts, scientists study their brains and evaluate their DNA, FBI agents reverse engineer what their crimes could mean. There are a wide variety of reasons why serial killers commit their crimes, but one common thread is childhood trauma, or any trauma of any sort. This trauma triggers genetics, psychology, and the situation of a serial killer, culminating in a deadly, perfect storm. While it is devastating to know that someone can be so hurt by trauma they resort to the most extreme violence possible, this cannot completely excuse their actions. People must be held accountable for their actions regardless of the trauma they have experienced in their life. This is because people have agency; no one is forced to succumb to their past experiences. Excusing such despicable behavior sets a dangerous precedent where moral responsibility ceases to exist. Within each person is the ability to reframe trauma, and to be able to rise above the harm that has been caused to an individual. People can change their life at any moment, absolutely nothing is stopping them.

The study of serial killers has expanded rapidly in the past few decades. The introduction of the behavioral analysis unit and other similar entities have used psychology to better understand how a person is capable of committing grotesque crimes. Adrian Raine, an expert in neurocriminology explains that “genetics and environment work together to encourage violent behavior.” For example, those with a specific variant of the enzyme monoamine-oxidase-A gene are more prone to displaying violent behavior if they have had an abusive upbringing. A child susceptible to genetically driven violent conduct does not necessarily become a criminal. However, genetics, in tandem with environmental factors such as violent childhood experiences, work together to shape a person” (Raine). A person’s circumstances and genetics can influence violent behavior, and through analyzing various serial killers, a common theme of abuse or trauma arises, and abuse or trauma is linked to other crimes as well. The Nation Institute of Justice explains “childhood abuse increased the risk of adulthood crime by promoting antisocial behavior during childhood and adolescence, followed by the formation of relationships with antisocial romantic partners and peers in adulthood”(NIJ). As well as this, research “also found evidence of a “cycle of violence” among individuals with child maltreatment histories. This pattern of behavior occurs when victims of childhood violence perpetrate violence toward their peers or partners later in the life cycle” (NIJ). This same report found that “individuals with substantiated child maltreatment histories were more likely to perpetrate sexual and physical intimate partner violence in adulthood compared to their non-maltreated peers” (NIJ). This shows that one’s situation has a substantial impact on their behavior. An abused person is more likely to continue the cycle of abuse.

However, the increased likelihood that someone who suffers abuse can be violent, and even specific instances of extreme abuse suffered by perpetrators of heinous crimes does not eliminate responsibility. To be responsible is to be a free agent. While people are restrained by laws, it is up to the individual to follow them. When driving a particular canyon in my hometown, I know that the speed limit is forty miles per hour; however, I rarely go that number; it is an empty canyon. If I were to get pulled over for speeding it would be my fault, regardless of why I was speeding, or if I was genetically predisposed to like speeding. This instance is to a much smaller scale, however it is essentially what serial killers tend to do in interviews. They try to evoke sympathy, to find a reason they acted so viciously. They find an excuse, a scapegoat, to explain their heinous conduct. In an effort to understand evil and the continuation of abuse, people use past traumas, brain chemistry, and abuse as justification.

It is more comfortable to think evil has a source than to take responsibility for one’s actions. This can be seen through Gary Watson’s article on moral responsibility. In this article, Watson describes the story of Robert Harris, a man who shot two men in cold blood. He was a man that was so vile, other prisoners on death row said he had no soul, and they were relieved when he died. Throughout Harris's life he was aggressive, violent, and cold. His blatant lack of remorse after he killed two innocent youths shocked and terrified. Robert Harris suffered immense abuse as a child, abuse so monstrous his sister and mother pitied him, and understood how he could be so evil. They recalled a little boy who cried at the film Bambi in theaters, and through the chronology of his life, they concluded that “Robert was too young, and the abuse lasted too long […] for him to ever have had the chance to recover” (Watson 136). However, this effort to understand the evil may shift into excusing the evil, the story of Robert Harris should not undermine the fact that he is vicious and evil, rather it serves as a sort of explanation for why he is the way he is (Watson 137). Watson explains “Harris’s history reveals him to be an inevitable product of his formative circumstances. Seeing him as a product is inconsistent with seeing him as a responsible agent” (Watson 138). It is difficult to see someone as a responsible agent when they are solely a product of their environment because if we are a product of our environment, and we cannot control our environment, then our actions are not dependent on our own free will. Watson says it best, “if his cruel attitudes and conduct are the inevitable result of his circumstances, then he is not responsible for them, unless he was responsible for those circumstances”(Watson 138). As a person who looks on this story responds, their responses to an abused child turned murderer “conflict not in the way that fear dispels anger, but in the way that sympathy is opposed to antipathy […] taken together they do not enable us to respond overall in a coherent way” (Watson 138). However, one is able to reconcile the opposition between these two sides when they realize that human beings have agency. Human beings are not just products of their environment.

While there is an increased chance that someone who suffers abuse becomes inclined towards crime, this does not mean that they have to. People have agency over their lives; at their core they know right from wrong. Morality is mystifying. Many people have conflicting views on where we get morality from. Some believe it was bestowed on humanity by god, some believe morals were created in order to existing society. Others would argue that morality does not exist at all, that it is an illusion. I believe morality does exist, and regardless of where it comes from, people generally know right from wrong. Serial killers and murderers who suffered from abuse know right from wrong as well. Famously, Sartre explained that “man is free, man is freedom” (Satre 32). He goes on further, “man is condemned to be free. Condemned, because he did not create himself, yet is nevertheless at liberty, and from the moment that he is thrown into this world he is responsible for everything he does” (Satre 32). They are condemned because being free, having agency incurs a responsibility over one’s own actions. Someone may suffer immense abuse as a child, or suffer egregious trauma. This trauma, the hurt from abuse, will cause pain, pain that may extend to violence, to the extreme of murder. Yet, this person is still condemned to their freedom. They have the choice to let their past experience define them, or they have the choice to rise above, to reframe their suffering. They are responsible for their actions, and regardless if they choose to acknowledge this fact or not people are also responsible in constructing the fututre of other people as well. If one chooses to let their past define them, excuses their actions on the past, then so will everyone else. Every person will use their pain and suffering as an excuse to cause more pain and suffering. This creates an endless cycle of suffering, a cycle that does not need to exist.

Self realization, stepping into one’s own power could help to stop this vicious cycle. There are many studies on how reframing trauma or abuse leads to healing. Hurt people are more likely to hurt people, but they don’t have to if they make the choice to move on. The problem is this; most people do not have the knowledge that they are free. People are unaware that they can take power over their lives and not be overpowered by the pain of the past. One may argue that someone may not have the capacity to reach self realization, they may not have the tools to do so. While this may be true, it is a dangerous argument to say that people are solely a product of their environment and they don’t have agency over their lives. Self realization, free will, and agency are not as difficult to cultivate as one would think. Throughout a person's life he or she will make millions, even billions of choices. While it is difficult to reframe trauma or abuse, it can be done; people do it all the time, and in doing so they help to stop the cycle of abuse.

Serial killers who suffered from monstrous childhoods should still be held responsible for their actions because the past does not override agency. One’s experiences may influence the way they behave, but trauma and abuse do not have agency, human beings do. Human beings, at their very core, are free. They are defined by their choices, and their choices define the way that they live and the way that they exist in society. Because people are defined by their choices, they must be held responsible for their actions when they hurt others, regardless of the factors that caused them to make that decision.

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