The case of former child prostitute Sara Kruzan, now 35, helped get law passed in California against locking up juveniles for life.
Gov. Jerry Brown has decided to allow freedom for a woman whose punishment for killing her pimp became a call to arms against the practice of locking up juveniles for life.
Sara Kruzan, 35, was incarcerated at 16 after she killed the man she contended had groomed her since age 11 to work for him as a child prostitute. She was sentenced to life without parole for her crime, and her case became a high-profile example used by lawmakers and advocates for juvenile offenders seeking to soften such harsh sentences.
“It is justice long overdue,” said Sen. Leland Yee, a San Francisco Democrat who began championing Kruzan’s case a decade ago.
Yee called Kruzan’s case the “perfect example of adults who failed her, of society failing her. You had a predator who stalked her, raped her, forced her into prostitution, and there was no one around.”
In a video on Yee’s website, Kruzan said, “I definitely know I deserve punishment. You don’t just take somebody’s life and think that it’s OK. How much [punishment], I don’t know.”
After years of debate among state lawmakers, Yee’s legislation to allow new sentencing hearings for juveniles sent to prison for life without parole became law in January. In September, Brown signed a second bill requiring parole boards to give special consideration to juveniles tried as adults who have served at least 15 years of lengthy sentences. Advocates estimate there are more than 1,000 prisoners already eligible for parole hearings under that new law.
Even before passage of those bills, advocates convinced Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2011 to change Kruzan’s sentence to allow for parole. A Riverside judge in January further reduced her first-degree murder conviction to second degree, making her immediately eligible for release.
The state Board of Parole Hearings in June forwarded to Brown’s office its recommendation that she be released. A spokesman for the governor’s office said Brown has decided to allow the order to go into effect without his signature, almost two weeks before the deadline for his action.
Kruzan is housed at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla.
Via LA Times
Related articles
- Sara Kruzan, Woman Who Killed Pimp As Teen, To Be Released On Parole (huffingtonpost.com)
- Calif. Gov Allows Freedom to Woman Who Killed Pimp – ABC News (abcnews.go.com)
- Calif. gov. allows freedom to woman who killed pimp (cbsnews.com)
- Jerry Brown OKs freedom for woman imprisoned at 16 for killing pimp (latimes.com)
Prison Reform Movement's Weblog- America: Land of the Free, Home of the Incarcerated 
There are way too many people in jails/prisons, (male & female), in this country. The laws in all states need to change. Criminals, who are wealthy, including, politicians, and people in law enforcement, get by with the wrongs they do, while the poor and middle class, are sent to prisons for years, with no-one to help them, from anyone.
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Yes we can. Sarah’s case is national and much good has come from her story. Thank you Sue Ellen for working with kids. Unfortunately, the need is great. Lets keep in touch!
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My organization, Gina’s Team, works with women and girls 12 to 18 who have been horribly abused by adults, parents, friends, and strangers. What grownups are doing to children is unspeakable. What she deserved wasn’t punishment, it was lots and lots of counseling, comfort, love, and the ability to begin a different and new life. When you have experienced what she did at such a young age, the scars are deep and long lasting. America is ignoring this issue, hoping it will go away. It won’t because we don’t want to admit it. A big and serious part of the problem is also incest, also ignored and covered up.This is America. We can do better.
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Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
A step in the right direction, Gov!
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Reblog: http://hrexach.wordpress.com/
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Reblogged this on Social Awareness.
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