In this episode, we examine the case of Pieper Lewis through a lens rarely centered in true crime: the complex intersection of sex trafficking, adolescent trauma, survival psychology, and a legal system that punished a victim for defending herself. Rather than focusing on shock or spectacle, this episode explores the psychological, medical, and behavioral questions at the center of a case that continues to ignite national conversation about justice, girlhood, and what it means to survive.

Drawing on research in trauma neuroscience, adolescent brain development, forensic psychology, and behavioral science, we explore:

• How chronic trauma and sex trafficking reshape the developing adolescent brain and why this matters in courtrooms.
• What the neuroscience of survival tells us about fight responses in victims of repeated abuse.
• How the legal system defines self-defense, coercion, and criminal responsibility in trafficking cases, and where it fails.
• Why adolescent victims of sexual exploitation are uniquely vulnerable to institutional and legal re-traumatization.
• What Pieper's sentencing (including restitution payments to her abuser's family) reveals about systemic failures in how we respond to trafficking survivors.
• What psychology and behavioral science say about accountability, healing, and justice when the system gets it wrong.

With a background in public health and behavioral science (graduate training at Johns Hopkins), The Murder Mindset prioritizes education, prevention, and understanding over sensationalism, asking difficult questions about trauma, accountability, and how systems respond when the most vulnerable people are failed at every level.

⚠️ Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of sex trafficking, child sexual abuse, violence, and the criminal prosecution of a minor. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

🎧 This episode is intended for listeners interested in true crime, forensic psychology, neuroscience, adolescent development, trauma science, and the behavioral science behind survival and violence.

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