The Danger Narrative: How They Justify Denying Us Redemption

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By Chaddrick Thomas


They don’t just sentence us.

They don’t just cage us.

They define us.


“Violent offender.” “Monster.” “Threat to society.”

These labels aren’t just used in court—they live in the minds of lawmakers, parole boards, the media, and the public.

They become the reason why we don’t get second chances.


This is the danger narrative—and it’s one of the most powerful weapons ever created in American law.

The Lie They Sell: “We’re Protecting Society”


They say people like me are too dangerous to be free.

Too violent to rehabilitate.

Too risky to ever walk among the so-called “innocent” again.


But what they’re really doing is selling fear.

Fear sells policies. Fear keeps prisons full. Fear keeps society compliant.


Because if people truly saw us as human—flawed, broken, and still worthy—

They’d have to question the system.

They’d have to admit that the numbers—40 years, 91 years, life without parole—aren’t about justice.

They’re about control.

We Are Punished for Violence. The System Survives By It.


Let’s be honest.


America doesn’t hate violence.

It just hates our violence—violence from the bottom.


After 9/11, this country didn’t respond with dialogue or diplomacy.

It responded with bombs.

With war.

With torture.

With decades of sanctioned violence that cost thousands of lives.


And what did we call it?

Justice.


When the government is hurt, it responds with overwhelming, unapologetic violence.

But when we are hurt—by poverty, by abuse, by abandonment—and respond the same way?

We’re locked away forever.

The Danger Narrative Has No Expiration Date


Even after we’ve served our time—

Even after we’ve changed—

The label sticks.


“He’s dangerous.”
“She committed a violent crime.”
“We can’t take that risk.”


Risk of what?

Growth?

Redemption?

The truth that the system might have failed us before we ever failed it?


The public will fight for nonviolent drug offenders.

They’ll rally for people with DUIs or white collar charges.

But bring up someone convicted of a violent offense?


The room goes silent.

They Want to Erase the Possibility That We Can Evolve


Because if we can change…

If we can heal…

If we can rebuild lives, businesses, families—

Then what was the point of throwing us away for decades?


If we aren’t monsters, then maybe the real violence isn’t in us.

Maybe it’s in the way this system uses fear to justify forever punishment.

CALL TO ACTION: Shatter the Narrative

  1. Challenge the label “violent offender.” Say their name, not their charge.

  2. Ask why laws exclude people with violent convictions from reforms, release, and opportunity.

  3. Point out the hypocrisy of a government that meets every threat with force but denies redemption to those it trained to be violent.

  4. Believe in transformation—even when the system doesn’t.

Next Up: “What Makes Violence Legitimate? Who Gets to Decide?”

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