I don’t know if her opinions would have shifted if she’d lived or not. I absolutely agree that poverty and dramatic income inequality, in particular, make these kinds of crimes more common.

That being said, as someone who didn’t know Jen personally but used to socialize around many of her friends, I did sort of get to a point in my own life where I felt like this community’s idealistic view of human nature was borderline dangerous in its own way. Many of them did seem to genuinely believe that all cruel human behavior could be explained by capitalism and inequality. And those who were influential community activists against these forces often got put on pedestals. What this meant, conversely, is that I felt like questioning behavior or logic of some of the more influential activists in this community was discouraged - and a lot of people would chalk up any bad behavior of an in-group member to a misunderstanding. I got tired of hearing everyone tell me that one particular guy I had some borderline abusive experiences with was a “great guy” because of all the public causes he supported, for example.

I know another woman connected to this broader network who recently came out publicly about how she had tried restorative justice through community groups, rather than going to the police, with regards to her activist husband that beat her. But after a year she decided he wasn’t doing what he said he would in the restorative justice process, which she was unhappy about. I’m guessing she still won’t go to police though, because of the social pressure around that.

I just find it particularly sad that radical progressive activists in the U.S. have sort of created their own culture based on dogmatic beliefs that is not great at protecting the most vulnerable in their own group, like young women.