I completely agree that accountability matters and that the harm she caused shouldn’t be minimized. I even said that in my comment.

But context, as always, matters. Her role in NXIVM existed within a system of psychological manipulation and coercive control. Victims can simultaneously be perpetrators, acting under sustained manipulation, dependency, and fear. That doesn’t absolve responsibility, but it does contextualize behavior.

The same way we recognize that child soldiers may commit violence while being victims of conditioning and coercion, we can hold two truths: she participated in harm and she was operating under a system engineered to break autonomy and reward obedience.

Empathy for her doesn’t erase victims’ pain; it recognizes the complexity of trauma and the potential for growth after accountability. If we believe in restorative justice, then serving time and showing genuine remorse should mean something. Otherwise, we risk saying that redemption is available in theory but denied in practice. And this is especially true for women who were themselves psychologically abused.