Ep 18 Christian Branscombe: A Convicted Murderer And His Endless Path Towards Redemption

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I had the unique opportunity to sit down with, and interview, the convicted murderer as seen on CNN’s “The Redemption Project with Van Jones.” Christian Branscombe received a life sentence without parole for murder and attempted murder convictions when he was just 19 years old. He was released 5 months ago at the age of 44. We discuss the choices he made that caused him to commit this violent crime as well as the choices that got him released.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In this episode, Christian recounts the isolation, sexual molestation, rejection, and significant shame that contributed to life altering choices he made that led him to kill and end up in prison. As he describes, “he became somebody that sacrificed everything that he really wanted in life to feel safe.” In a prison system that is not designed to facilitate real change, he was able to begin the path to receive redemption and peace. Through a miraculous release, he is now working to help those that are on both sides of violent crimes heal. “Our communities benefit when people that are healed can heal other people.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I think when we talk about resilience or we talk about the idea of where something this horrific can come from, we have to know that it doesn’t come from normal circumstances. And that people only choose to adapt this way under these extreme circumstances. So it doesn’t justify the actions and it definitely doesn’t mitigate any responsibility in it but it definitely contributes to us preventing it from developing in that severity in the future and giving us an idea of how to heal it in people who have received that trauma and are passing it on.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“If I can’t feel my pain, I can’t relate to yours.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“If I took a life because I couldn’t confront my shame then the only thing that is a form of redemption to me is to face that shame. And then to share tha