CRIME IN AMERICA

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  Crime in America

     Having recently read an article by a woman, who was systematically terrorized, stalked, drugged and then raped in a small town conspiracy.  I felt an urgency to share her story.

She asserts her parents made enemies with a group of gangsters by suing one of the organizations in the town after misrepresentation in a regular legal business service. 

     I was taken aback by her story as you see no one was ever held accountable for the crimes committed against this church going mother, who was both well liked and valued in her community, she ran a social welfare business that had benefitted many. 

     I was looking for a psychological situation that involved the conspiracy of a group of people who banded together out of fear, for a possible Thesis topic.  So many of the topics in Psychology are well worn and trite.  Not to mention boring and outdated!

I’d seen many stories on TV about; good people driven to do bad things out of fear.

However, I have never heard of anything like this before.

It has taken this woman years to speak of the crimes committed against her and her immediate family and friends.   Out of her own fears that what occurred could reoccur, she relates,” they stalked me at my job and home, using tactics like, walking past me and saying, “Run.”  Or Quit" failures in computer operations, business budgets went missing, pornography pictures flashed on the computer screen, constant freezing, and the DVD drawer popping in and out by itself" "the bank wouldn't cash my checks for no reason at all and my account would go arrears on a regular basis as money actually dissapeared!"
Once a pool life guard approached her in the dressing room after a crime of great proportion had occurred in town that had everyone buzzing and said,” They will kill you just for the fun of it.”  The panicked lifeguard left her standing dripping wet, half naked, frozen to the cold tile floor. Petrified! “I felt like my heart would pump out of my skin and my body go weak. All rational left me.”

 One can only imagine what went on in this poor victim’s head.  She had a family to raise, a reputation to defend, and a job that fed her family and provided them shelter. 

The story goes on, Then one day, I was drugged."  She remembers having food and coffee in various places about the area that day.  That evening she collapsed in a deep sleep having bizarre dreams about someone in her room, and someone on top of her.  She awoke with a pounding head, “I thought maybe I had been food poisoned but I had not thrown up,” I found bruises and abrasions on myself, and even on my inner thighs. “ She said, “I knew then I had been drugged and although my mind could not conceive such a thing, raped.”

Being a Behavioral Health Professional myself I understand the ramifications of fear.  It makes a normal, mentally healthy person act irrationally. She claims,” I should have gone to the police right away, and the FBI. 
But I was afraid, I was afraid for my family, friends and myself.” 

The Victim continues, “My parents moved away and continued their lawsuit from afar yet I stayed not knowing what to do, I knew I had somehow become involved with bad people that continually threaten and terrorized me. “

“ Finally she closed her business and gained a position in another state and moved her family.  “However, it did not end there.  The electronic harassment continued, the whispering and outright innuendos continued and began a new life in my new community. Mostly at my work and place of residence. “ She continues,  “one time a man approached me walking briskly on the street. I thought he looked like he was approaching me and wanted to speak to me. I headed right for him and began to speak, but at that moment he veered off to the left. As he walked away I saw the butt of a gun concealed in a newspaper he had under his arm, shocked and dismayed they had found me in my new life, I sat in my car and cried, then I wrote a letter to the FBI. At least I had someone to tell now.”  The paragraph ends. 

My heart goes out to this person. As a health professional I know the human need for association and contact, support and concern is necessary to everyone.  We are not made to be alone.  Yet, this woman was alone, not able to utter a word to anyone.

I have plans to write to the magazine (a professional Journal), I want to commend her bravery. fortitude and sense of justice.  We all need to take this kind of a stand against those who lessen our lives by their subtle crimes that place fear into the hearts of normal law abiding citizens.   I realize that what she suffered through has not been resolved and she is probably in some sort of witness protection program.  I also understand her inability to trust others, make relationships and have peace with something that will probably always remain unresolved. 

The things that were precious and priceless that were lost to this woman enduring such a tragic experience: Loss of professional respect at her work, suspicion due to rumors, Having to move away, uproot her family, change her lifestyle, financial issues, loss of relationships,  and having her sanity questioned. Constantly living under the fear of something violent and irrational, unseen and uncontrollable, possibly happening.  Feelings of helplessness for reasons that she could not control nor mediate, were overwhelming. 

 These unresolved feelings lead her to want to commit suicide.  The loss of privacy and the bullying that took place all by itself alone could ruin someones life!    Not to mention the after effects of being stalked, terrorized and then raped! 

I sense a great strength in her, she at one point says, “I am not afraid anymore, it was the fear that kept me helpless and they counted on that.”  To be terrorized you have to be afraid.  I know if it were ever to happen again I would take my gun and use it. “ 

Further, “

“I also practice telling, I call the police when anything weird occurs, I involve others and that way I do not feel alone or like it is my fault. “ 

She relates that it is her faith that helped her survive, and the, “thought that in the end we all pass away, however, I will be rewarded in heaven whereas these people who conspired to harm me and my family will burn in hell.” 

True…

Yet for the sake of my own purposes, reviewing the intricate psychological damages that are overlooked when a crime or crimes are committed.   I am aghast at the way the victim is treated, suspected and blamed by the very ones that are installed to help. Pull the veil off your eyes!  The system is corrupted or at the very least judgmental, and completely outdated.   
I watch the TV too, is it the only the good judges who have a TV show?  Perhaps it is at the catch and release level?  Perhaps, the vast sophistication of crime is lost on our clay-footed saviors with a sidearm?  Or maybe it is at the level that this victim experienced: a community who was too fearful to speak out and do the right thing.  Personally I think this probably happens more than we know. 

I have a word for anyone reading who has clammed up after being raped, threatened, terrorized, abused, faced blackmail or had anything happen to them that made them afraid or confused.  Tell someone…  Keep telling until you find someone who will listen.  There is power in many witnesses even if it is only one other.  This woman regretted being silent.  After she started to talk many came out with their experiences, perhaps unlike hers but as she relates, “ I was a catalyst for others,” “I was the Brave One.”  

As a Health Professional I must unify this position, someone has to be.  Bad people do bad things. Their motivations are not fascinating, or complicated, you will find them amongst the negative aspects of personality as selfishness, foolishness and stupidity. We are always amazed by the guile of a criminal however, its not bravery. Bravery is selflessness. Bravery is a character quality not a deficit.   The brave are heroes not criminals   Bravery is an altogether different character quality.  

Criminals are a muddle of dysfunctionality, insanity and a huge inability to do any self-reflection; they blame everyone else for their lack of ability to live within the norms of our society.  Many of the notorious criminals of the past: killers, thieves,  and gangsters were developmentally disabled. 

The Lack of proper parenting, guidelines and rules that are essential to children to develop desirable character qualities are lacking in those who make the decisions to defraud and hurt others. 

The only reason criminals  have friends is: they like a child that has had to move around a lot gravitate to those that are readily available, (birds of a feather flock together) they befriend others like them which society has rejected due to their predatory and unacceptable behaviors. Or they bully people around them and they comply out of fear.  

 My best advice considering this experience, (and here’s your  “on the couch moment.” Your assignment for the week, "Write this down")

‘Ask yourself, “What would I have done in this woman’s situation?"
When you are finished hand your papers to the left and a monitor will pick them up.  Hand in your number #2 pencil at the door, you are dismissed.  

Resources

https://mainweb-v.musc.edu/vawprevention/research/mentalimpact.shtml

http://www.livescience.com/13083-criminals-brain-neuroscience-ethics.html

http://healthpsychology.org/emotional-effects-of-terror/

http://www.plim.org/fear.html

https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/gangs

http://mcwell.nd.edu/your-well-being/physical-well-being/drugs/rohypnol-flunitrazepam/