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Ptsd In The Ghetto

448 Words2 Pages

Under certain conditions a Vietnam veteran or a battered spouse can use post

traumatic stress disorder as a defense, but a brutalized product of the ghetto doesn't

seem to have the right to that same defense because he/she has no real reason,

other than their own decision, to blame for their actions.

“For instance, the victim of a PTSD-afflicted veteran is often an innocent

passerby, and the battered-spouse doctrine certainly raises questions about personal

responsibility and lowered expectations. And if, as seems likely, some ghetto

residents do have PTSD largely as a result of their living conditions, it’s hard to see

why this ailment should be exculpatory for veterans, say, but not for ghetto

residents. After all, a disease is a …show more content…

This “ghetto defense” proved fruitless in Morgan’s

case. In court, the young woman was found both sane and guilty.”

Society doesn't do anything to help kids like Felicia get out of the horrific

conditions that they grow up in, and yet whenever someone who lived in these

conditions commits a crime, they have no empathy and find them guilty. I believe

that people who grow up in the ghetto can suffer from PTSD and deserve to get

help. No matter if it was war, abuse or living in horrible conditions like Felicia that

caused the stress, PTSD is a disease that one cannot escape on their own.

Unfortunately not everyone sees people who grew up living in horrific conditions

contenders for PTSD; they don't believe that growing up in the ghetto can be as

traumatic as going to war.

Will society ever accept people who have grown up under horrific conditions as

people suffering with PTSD? I think that if we start getting the children in these

living conditions help at any early age we can reduce their crime rate and give

them a better opportunity for a more positive

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