This hits so close to home. My brother is an extremely abusive alcoholic, who has made his forays into crack & meth.
He has stolen from everyone in the family, including my son's gaming systems (plural) & all of his dvd's & games. As a single mother, i couldn't exactly afford to replace these things. He has physically & emotionally abused everyone in the family ~ badly!
My mother's response, however, has been to protect him. When he was physically assaulting her daughter, & when he was doing it to her grandchild.
Co-dependency seems like such a benign word when talking about this shit. It goes waaay beyond that into the land of..idk. i have had my brother put in jail 3 times now, for abusing me & for abusing my father. Each & every time she has stood by his side. To the point of blaming me for being abused. Not saying that this is what's going on here, but...
I,A, i do appreciate that you are really trying to take some responsibility for what you have done. But, you seem to miss the fact that, our actions have far-reaching effects. Particularly within a family. If you hurt your brother, in any way, stole from him, lied to & betrayed him, when your mother stands up for & defends you, not only does it feel like a slap in the face, but it shows that she is not a safe person to be around. Because that same behavior will extend to your nieces & nephews.
While it may feel that your family members are being unjustly targeted, since you were the perpetrator of the wrongs, try to understand that, whilst done on your behalf, wounds were created that are only between them. You cannot heal them. Your mother created a wound with your brother. That is between them. And it is up to them to heal. All that you can do, really, is keep on trying to grow & be aware, & to never forget how deeply our actions affect those around us.
Best of luck to you.

One more thing ~ When one person in a family is sick, it can make the whole family a part of that sickness. It's fucking toxic. Choosing to step away from that sickness & toxicity, & in particular to keep his children away from it, is, for some people vital. The last thing that any parent wants is to bring their children into a toxic environment. And, aside from you, i find it really sad that your mother can't understand that. i find it sad, but not surprising. Since she has no problem with her other children being brought into the fold of addiction & codependency. Get some family therapy. Seriously.

I can't believe how callous these responses have been. Well, if we weren't on the Internet I wouldn't be able to. This dude isn't attempting to blame his brother or his family for his problems. By his language, he turned himself in, served his time, and has straightened himself out. But he hates seeing his family fall apart, and there is nothing ignoble about that. Maybe don't judge people so quickly, it would be horrible to meet them in the afterlife and learn that your judgmental mentality made you a worse person than their addiction that they actually defeated, eh?