Why People Don't Snitch

From Yahoo! via Feministing:

PHOENIX - A woman had the word "snitch" burned into her face with a branding iron in apparent retaliation for helping police in a domestic violence case, authorities said.

The brand singed into her flesh during a June 13 attack is 4 to 6 inches long and stretches across her left cheek from lip to earlobe, Mesa police Sgt. Chuck Trapani said Friday.

This is unacceptable. The woman received the branding because she actually summoned the strength to come forwards and tell the police that she had been victim to a crime. Additionally, this story helps to elucidate a couple different points. The first being that this is why people in the hood don't snitch. I know, I should want to tell if I saw someone get gunned down, but, that's exactly why I wouldn't say anything. If I saw someone get gunned down, that means someone probably saw me, and, as proven by this story, we live in a world where revenge is always served with cruelty and indifference towards consequences. This means that I run a high risk of getting killed if I snitch by someone in the criminal's gang. And, while I do want to see crimes solved, I also would like to keep my life. This is the constant conundrum of snitching: do I want to solve a crime or do I want to live?