One thing law enforcement and corrections taught me is that you can understand why somebody did something without excusing what they did.

People have histories.

They have trauma, addiction, anger, mental illness, bad examples, bad environments, and sometimes years of terrible decisions behind them.

That context matters.

But understanding the road that brought somebody to a cell does not erase the choices they made along the way.

Explanation and accountability can exist at the same time.

You do not have to choose between seeing the human being and seeing the behavior.