It is important to note that traumatic experiences in one’s past can lead to reactions, which can be highly disruptive and unpredictable. Such reactions include violence and crime, which puts not only the life of a traumatized person at risk but also other people affected by the crime of violence.
Regardless of one’s conditions, including severe trauma, violence and crime are justifiable reactions. Both violence and crime bring damage to other innocent individuals, which means that one’s traumatic reaction is hurting society. It is stated that among incarcerated women, “the majority of the sample (70.8 %) reported using illicit drugs, and 59.6 % had committed at least one violent offense. History of drug use was significantly correlated with trauma, PTSD status, and violent offending” (Howard et al., 2016, p. 21). In other words, all of these women have high rates of some form of traumatic past, which led to crime and subsequent incarceration. The judicial system does not allow one’s past trauma to justify crime and violence. Among male prisoners, “incarcerated offenders are more likely to experience Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and associated symptoms than the general population. PTSD may develop from a variety of events, including being a victim of violence, witnessing violence, or from committing a violent offense.” (Ternes et al., 2019, p. 68). In other words, these men are imprisoned primarily due to their criminal actions, and they tend to have some form of traumatic past. However, crime or violence does not justify one’s trauma, which is indicated by the prevalence of trauma among prisoners of both genders.
In conclusion, trauma was highly common among incarcerated individuals, and they were imprisoned due to their crimes, some of which included violence.
References
Howard, R., Karatzias, T., Power, K., & Mahoney, A. (2016). Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms mediate the relationship between substance misuse and violent offending among female prisoners.Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 52(1), 21–25. Web.
Ternes, M., Cooper, B. S., & Griesel, D. (2019). The perpetration of violence and the experience of trauma: Exploring predictors of PTSD symptoms in male violent offenders.International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 19(1), 68–83. Web.