The case of Sara Kruzan
Ask Gov. Schwarzenegger to Release Human Trafficking Victim Sara Kruzan with Time Served
Sara Kruzan was 16 years old when she was charged with killing her 31-year-old pimp, a man who had been grooming her since she was 11 years old and trafficking her since she was 13. Abused as a small child and living with a drug-addicted mother, Sara was the ideal victim for the lure of a predator. While other girls her age were in junior high school, Sara was experiencing the attention and ‘affections’ of a pimp who began to exercise control over her young mind. When other girls were entering high school, Sara was already being sold to adults, forced to turn over her money to her ‘daddy’ and beaten if she resisted. In fact, Sara’s life up until her arrest was a litany of abuse and trauma, absent and predatory adults, failed systems and a total dearth of support and services. It is clear that Sara never had the opportunity to be just a young girl, and yet mentally and emotionally she was still very much a child. The court could have decided to take all these mitigating factors into consideration when sentencing her. Instead Sara was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.