Victims of sex trafficking face years in prison. How can this be justice?

Imagine this: A black girl claims a white man sexually abused and trafficked her when she was just 16 years old. Police arrest the man and accuse him of sexually abusing several young black girls, including victims as young as 12. He is released without bail, and four months later, the now 17-year-old trafficking victim shoots him dead.

What would justice be to you in such a case? Release the trafficking victim for fighting back against her tormentor? Sentencing her to decades in prison? Whatever you think is the right answer, you probably won't come to the same decision as the judge in this case.

On Monday, a judge in the state of Wisconsin sentenced Chrystul Kizer, now 24, to 11 years in prison for the negligent homicide of 34-year-old Randall Volar by shooting in 2018.

Given the abuse and trauma Kizer says he suffered at the hands of Volar, the sentence seems extreme, even though it is well below the maximum sentence of 30 years.

The Kizer case raises questions about immunity and confessions, justice and murder, race and gender.

If Kizer is the victim, was she served justice? If Volar is the victim, was he? A lot happens in this story, but little of it has to do with justice.

How a sex trafficking victim became a convicted murderer

Police were already investigating Volar for sexually abusing adolescent girls when Kizer says she contacted her through a website where she offered sex for money. Kizer says she offered sex to support her siblings.

Kizer says Volar sexually abused and trafficked her, even filming himself doing so. In early 2018, police found evidence that Volar had abused underage girls. He was arrested, charged and released without bail.

In June 2018, Kizer said, Volar tried to abuse her again, but the 17-year-old was at the end of her rope. She shot Volar. Then she set fire to his house and stole his car. Kizer was arrested and charged with first-degree premeditated murder, arson and auto theft.

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In May of this year, she pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter to avoid an even harsher sentence. She also admitted wrongdoing.

“I don't know where to begin, but I ask you today for generosity in my sentence,” Kizer said in court before her sentencing on Monday. “I understand that I committed sins that have caused the Volar family a lot of pain.”

In sentencing, Kenosha County Judge David Wilk acknowledged the abuse she had suffered, but did not believe it justified Volar's killing.

“The court is well aware of the circumstances of your relationship with Mr. Volar,” Wilk said. “You are not permitted to be the instrument of his reckoning. To say otherwise would be to advocate a descent into lawlessness and chaos.”

What happened to immunity as a defense against sex trafficking?

Do victims of human trafficking have a right to immunity for crimes they committed while under the extreme fear and duress that often accompany being forced to have sex with strangers? Under laws in Wisconsin and other states, they do have a right to immunity.

Kizer's lawyers argued that she could not be held criminally responsible for Volar's death because of a 2008 Wisconsin state law that exempts victims of crimes committed “as a direct result” of sex trafficking from liability.

But Judge Wilk said Kizer “abandoned that case” and asked for clemency after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

The justice system is failing

This is the story of a failed justice system. There should be justice for murder victims. But there should also be justice for sex trafficking victims trying to escape a life of abuse. That's exactly what Wisconsin's 2008 anti-sex trafficking law is all about.

I'm curious what the judge would have had Kizer do if he knew the system had failed her by releasing Volar without bail and allowing him to return to abuse her? Should she have gone to the police and risked retaliation from Volar? Should she have stayed and made the best of it despite the abuse?

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A heartbreaking 2022 documentary, “State of Alabama vs. Brittany Smith,” shows that the laws surrounding self-defense and abuse are often gendered. The Netflix documentary reports that “the most comprehensive study of stand-your-ground cases found that women were twice as likely as men to be convicted when they claimed they were defending themselves in the home.”

This is appalling for women trying to escape an abusive environment and renders the laws virtually useless in these circumstances.

Kizer's ordeal is similar to a case that unfolded in Tennessee. Cyntoia Brown was 16 when she killed Johnny Allen in 2004. Allen had paid for sex with Brown and she shot him because she thought he was going to point a gun at her.

Brown, also African American, was sentenced to life in prison for murder and robbery. After years of public outcry, including appeals from celebrities, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam commuted Brown's sentence to a shorter one. She was released from prison in 2019.

The facts of Kizer's case and verdict raise uncomfortable but important questions: What if Kizer were a man? What if she were white? Would the verdict be the same? Is our legal system truly blind to race, age and gender? Why did she feel she had to turn to prostitution to support her siblings?

Under the circumstances, it is difficult to see how an eleven-year prison sentence can represent justice.

Our criminal justice system sends mixed messages to victims: sex trafficking is a horrific crime, and the government clearly has a critical responsibility to track down sex traffickers and protect their victims.

Victims of sex trafficking face years in prison. How can this be justice?

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