Being disturbed from her “drug naps,” she would storm into black rages and grab me up by my little arm and beat me until I peed myself. It became such a common occurrence, that eventually, I would see her come out her bedroom and start peeing in fear. I got my first black eye at 5 years old, from a kick to the face for playing quietly by myself, but not quietly enough. Maybe I looked up to her boyfriends who beat on her because God knows she whooped my ass enough. Later in life, I became a severe introvert with antisocial personality traits. I self-medicated with pills, weed, booze and eventually heroin. Committing a series of bank robberies to support my raging heroin addiction, I was eventually sentenced to 51-Life in state prison. I consider the fact that I never became abusive to any of my relationships or my own children a win. I became aware that I never wanted to cause the pain I had experienced. Many haven’t been so lucky, and have continued the cycle as violence. If we focused more on the high chair, we could do away with the electric chair. We as a society should focus more on the why of crime than the what.