Ep. 18 – Virgia Brewer: From Decades of Abuse and Trauma to Present Happiness (What Made the Difference)

Virgia Brewer. To meet this wonderful woman today, you would have no idea she is a survivor of decades of abuse and trauma, beginning as a sexually exploited child – exploited and abused by family members no less, beginning at age seven. Her story has two parts: 00:00 Introduction 01:05 Part 1 – childhood and early adulthood exploitation and abuse; addiction; in and out of treatment programs, jail, and prison. 45:49 Part 2 – transformational change for the better and lessons we can learn from her experience. Part 1 illustrates why we can’t even pretend to know what justice should look like until we know the backstory of people who get crossways with the law. Part 2 illustrates the redemptive power of persistent, unconditional love, which in Virgia’s case came in answer to prayer in the form of Sylvester Brewer, now her husband. Hear her story. Listen to her voice. She deserves to be heard. And we need to hear. Her story and those of others shared in this podcast need to be heard by thousands of people, even hundreds of thousands, if we are to achieve our objective of creating a critical mass of public support for meaningful reforms in our criminal justice system. You can help by sharing a link to this and other episodes of Justice Voices on your social media. And if you would like to contribute needed financial support to this program as a tax-exempt charitable organization, please contact us through our website at justicevoices.org. We need your help. Spread the word. Help us make a difference.