{"id":3902,"date":"2013-01-08T08:00:14","date_gmt":"2013-01-08T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/?p=3902"},"modified":"2013-01-07T09:59:31","modified_gmt":"2013-01-07T14:59:31","slug":"trigger-happy-mom-or-failed-penal-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/01\/trigger-happy-mom-or-failed-penal-system.html","title":{"rendered":"Trigger Happy Mom or Failed Penal System?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An Atlanta mom hides her kids in a crawl space and armed herself to take on an intruder. Yet, MSN reports the mom as a trigger happy woman!<\/p>\n<p>So let&#8217;s understand this. A man knocks on her door. She believes it is a solicitor and tells her kids not to answer the door. The person at the door continues to bang on the door and ring the bell. The woman calls her husband. He tells her to hide the kids and then calls 911&#8211;smart man! \u00a0The intruder then breaks into her house, begins to rummage through her things. When the intruder finds the hiding space, the mom, armed to protect her kids, \u00a0opens fire to save her family. That makes her trigger happy?<\/p>\n<p>And what about the intruder? He was released from jail in late August after serving 9 months for simple battery and probation violations. According to his jail records, he had six other arrests since 2008&#8211;hardly a first time offender! Maybe this is where the news focus needs to be. What happens to criminals who serve a short sentence and then are released to the streets?<\/p>\n<p>Our penal system is overcrowded and failed. Locking people up and releasing them with no rehab or real accountability is where a major problem lies. What are we doing to address the broken criminal system? Instead of politicians clamoring for gun control and more regulations, how about some real action towards fixing our ailing prison and rehab systems! Talk about broken! Yet, I&#8217;ve heard nothing on the news about this incident that raises the awareness of politicians and community groups to take a look at how we deal with criminal behavior. When nothing is done but lock people up, release them for overcrowding, or give them a pass because the system is already overburdened, crime walks into our living rooms.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s time to stop blaming the victim, being distracted by gun control arguments, and take a hard look at our penal system.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Atlanta mom hides her kids in a crawl space and armed herself to take on an intruder. Yet, MSN reports the mom as a trigger happy woman! So let&#8217;s understand this. A man knocks on her door. She believes it is a solicitor and tells her kids not to answer the door. The person&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[914],"tags":[1940,1912,1938,1941,1939],"class_list":["post-3902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-relationships-2","tag-failed-penal-system","tag-family-violence","tag-mom-shoots-intruder","tag-penal-system","tag-trigger-happy-mom"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Trigger Happy Mom or Failed Penal System?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/01\/trigger-happy-mom-or-failed-penal-system.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trigger Happy Mom or Failed Penal System?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An Atlanta mom hides her kids in a crawl space and armed herself to take on an intruder. Yet, MSN reports the mom as a trigger happy woman! So let&#8217;s understand this. A man knocks on her door. She believes it is a solicitor and tells her kids not to answer the door. The person&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/01\/trigger-happy-mom-or-failed-penal-system.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-08T13:00:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-07T14:59:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trigger Happy Mom or Failed Penal System?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/01\/trigger-happy-mom-or-failed-penal-system.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trigger Happy Mom or Failed Penal System?","og_description":"An Atlanta mom hides her kids in a crawl space and armed herself to take on an intruder. Yet, MSN reports the mom as a trigger happy woman! So let&#8217;s understand this. A man knocks on her door. She believes it is a solicitor and tells her kids not to answer the door. The person&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/01\/trigger-happy-mom-or-failed-penal-system.html","og_site_name":"Doing Life Together","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","article_published_time":"2013-01-08T13:00:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-07T14:59:31+00:00","author":"Linda Mintle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@drlindamintle","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/01\/trigger-happy-mom-or-failed-penal-system.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/01\/trigger-happy-mom-or-failed-penal-system.html","name":"Trigger Happy Mom or Failed Penal System?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-01-08T13:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-07T14:59:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/01\/trigger-happy-mom-or-failed-penal-system.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/01\/trigger-happy-mom-or-failed-penal-system.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2013\/01\/trigger-happy-mom-or-failed-penal-system.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trigger Happy Mom or Failed Penal System?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/","name":"Doing Life Together","description":"Relationship Doctor, Mental Health, Emotional Wellness, Relationship Advice &amp; Entertainment","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142","name":"Linda Mintle","description":"It is rare that a trained academic who speaks passionately to the heart of people providing real answers to real life problems is so relatable. Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. 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