The Geheeo Made Me Do It

"The Ghetto Made Me Do It"

When I first started to read the essay; "The Ghetto Made Me Do It" By Francis Flaherty, I wasn't sure was I was about to read. Immediately it grabbed my attention. It explained Felicia Morgan's very traumatic, and violent childhood, "Mom shot dad," Shellow says. "And Mom shot boyfriend.... [Lisa's] uncle, who was actually her age, was murdered. Two days later, her other uncle was murdered. Her sister's boyfriend was paralyzed from the neck down by gunfire. Her brother was shot at and injured. Her mother once set her father on fire." Said Morgan's attorney, Robin Shellow (238). I could not even try to imagine growing up like that. But by the 9th paragraph, it made me sick to my stomach. Morgan had committed six armed robberies and one intentional homicide in seventeen minutes. 'Technically, Shellow's defense is a medical one. She believes that Morgan suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological ailments stemming from her life long exposure to violence.' (238). The thought of using PTSD as a defense, because someone was raised in the ghetto was infuriating and offensive to me. I have not spent much time in or even around a ghetto; I did however spend 18 months in a war zone.

" You hear constant comparisons of these neighborhoods to war zones, but I think there are some pretty significant differences."(239) Says Alex kotlowitz , who chronicled the lives of two Chicago black boys in There Are No Children Here.

If under certain conditions a veteran or a battered spouse can use post-traumatic stress disorder as a defense, then why not a brutalized product of the ghetto such as Morgan use the same or similar defense? Well to start, it says, 'if under certain conditions'. So if veterans and battered spouses can only use it "under certain conditions", why would anyone ever even think to use it in a criminal case such as Morgan's? The ghetto is where you are from, it is your home, and a war zone is not. There is no post traumatic stress when you're at home, there may be many other stresses and worries and fears but that's life at home. Everyone has had a few, or many, bad memories or experiences, growing up. That does not excuse us from our actions. We are all responsible for what we do regardless of our influences. Guns, are about the only thing in common between a war zone and the ghetto, the rest is completely different. Yes there are people being killed, but a person's mindset and mentality are completely different in a war zone then when one is at home, regardless of where you live.

I do however see the problem and or point of Morgan's attorney. Growing up around constant poverty and violence could obviously