Pick a jackie, jack! This is hell. is far too often the crime. This is hell and the law that we that seems criminal

which we will be discussing next is embedded in what is known as the theory of accountability

which allows a person to be charged for a crime another person committed that is

if they are proven to have assisted in that crime.

But as we will learn, that accomplice liability, fueled by law and order tough on crime politics,

can get murky when the alleged accomplice is stuck in an abusive

relationship that threatens their life. I know I did not recognize how responsible one is

for the actions of another and you might be surprised to learn how you might be held accountable for another's criminal activity as well.

In the case we will be discussing today, it's put our... let's just put ourselves in the shoes of someone who is an abuse,

who is in an abusive relationship, so abusive, that you fear your partner so much that you literally put the fear of God in you as you see your abuser as a

God over you who actually determines your life or death.

That godlike person who has beaten and brutalized you, even raped you,

then tells you to do something at the barrel of a gun. Out of self-preservation, you do.

You don't commit the crime they are eventually charged with, but out of fear they will kill you,

you do some task that in and of itself is not a crime.

Like waiting in the cars, the abuser commits the crime, a crime of which you may be totally unaware.

Yet due to the law and mandatory sentencing, despite you not committing the crime,

you are found equally guilty, given the same sentence as the person who threatened your life before they committed that act.

Now this may not be a surprise, but the majority of the people found guilty under such accomplice laws are women being punished for the crimes of their abusive male partner.

And they're more often than not women of color.

We'll learn about another injustice in our justice system and a few when we speak with

Marshall Project staff writer Shannon Hefferman who posted the Marshall Project

...