Eliza Fletcher
From iGeek
Heiress and runner was adducted and killed by repeat felon Cleotha Abston.
~ Aristotle Sabouni
Created: 2022-09-08 |
A friend complained about the double standard (that Women have to fear abduction). Kinda true. But it ignores that more Men are murdered and assaulted than Women. But I advocated for people learning self defense. The counter arguments were that it's all about the double standard.
| This is one of the reasons why I taught Women self-defense for so many years. And I really think she should have gotten some gun training and conceal and carry if you're running in high-crime cities at odd hours (if not a gun, at least some tool of defense), or run with a partner, or run on a treadmill, in a gym, etc., especially in places where repeat felons are let off (like Cleotha Abston's who had prior many felonies... including Kidnapping in 2000). |
My response:
- There's a double standard. But a small man, old, kids, etc can also be victimized. (being the wrong color, wrong area, run into the wrong people, etc)... Women should be aware of their surroundings and risks as they are more targets. But so should everyone else. I can't fix that sociopaths delight in exploiting the weak. All I can do is offer advice to increase the risks to criminals and decrease their rewards. And try to help teach the weak, how to be less of the target, or more able to get away. And that isn't just lamenting the loss, but learning from it, what we could do better?
- I'm not blaming the victim. I'm blaming the culture that allowed a repeat felon out, with a history of this exact kind of crime. People talk about things like "Japan is so safe"... some of this is false (people are unaware of risks), but much of it is real. But why? Japan has something like a 97% conviction rate (to our less than 50%... and our MUCH weaker sentencing/plea bargaining). It isn't that they're that much better than us at criminal justice -- it's that they have a more "someone must pay for the crime" and are willing to throw away bad guys... so if the cops round up one of the known criminals and pin it on him, and then they have much easier terms for conviction, and the punishments keep the people safer longer. There's really only a small percentage of people that are bad, and we usually know who they are, and if you throw them away, society gets safer. If you don't believe in reform and 3rd and 9th chances, you get more victims.
I'm not saying the Japanese solution should be ours (it wouldn't fly here, and I don't have a problem with that) -- but just understand the problem. The cost of sympathy for repeat criminals is more victims. Everyone who is outraged that this happened to her, could harden themselves against the fantasy of reformation for violent criminals and demand more consequences for bad actors-- or accept/tolerate that the cost of their philosophy is dead innocents.
- Potential victims have a choice -- take responsibility for their own lives, or trust the police/others to protect them. Most victims trusted others. While that doesn't make it the victim's fault that the criminal was out there, or that they were assaulted (or killed) -- it does mean they can't control others, they can only control themselves. When seconds count, the police are 15 minutes away and have no legal requirement to endanger themselves to protect you. Most crimes like this, their job is to file reports and notify families. So post-mortem is always to question what we could have done to stop it, reduce it, or improve the outcomes.
We could have held the repeat felon more accountable. They could have had more security (impractical -- they can't be everywhere at once). She could have chosen a safer place, she could have carried or been more prepared to take responsibility for her own defense. (I do know runners that carry -- and it doesn't have to be a gun). Again, it's not about blame -- but what are fixable variables? Just saying, it sucks to be a woman (or is unfair), isn't wrong... but it doesn't help. So now what can we do?
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