PEORIA (25News Now) – A Peoria criminal defense lawyer said she believes the cycle of violence can be connected to the traumatic events people have experienced in their lives.
Peoria lawyer Susan O’Neal has been practicing law for decades, including criminal defense, law for DCFS, and juvenile cases. She said statistics show that people are more likely to enter the criminal justice system or face hard life circumstances if they have experienced trauma.
“Trauma plays a big part in how people can carry on the rest of their lives,” O’Neal said.
On Monday, O’Neal defended a young man, Jamal Porter, 24, convicted of being involved in a May 2024 shooting. Porter has past traumas, having been shot three times before the age of 20, and most recently, suffering a paralyzing gunshot wound at a shooting on Peoria’s Riverfront in July 2020. Porter was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Monday morning.
O’Neal said 100% of her clients have past traumas. She said that despite limited research on the subject, poverty and violent trauma without outside help, like counseling, can harm an individual’s psychology and future.
“The statistics show not a very good life trajectory – prison, death, early death, underemployment, unemployment,” O’Neal said. “It’s just something that lasts a lifetime for a person if they don’t get help. If you don’t address it, it seems like a festering wound, and the person can never reset somehow.”
O’Neal said the 61605 zip code, or commonly referred to as the Southside, of Peoria, is the seventh poorest zip code in Illinois. She said factors like poverty, lack of education, or male role models have been shown to impact a person’s life trajectory.
O’Neal is a member of the city’s Racial, Justice, and Equity Commission. She said the group is working on a list of all organizations locally that provide services for young people. She said that the resource should be available to people in December, but a firm release date has not yet been determined.
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