Sarah Kruzan deserves freedom, now

Let me start by saying that I do believe that killing another human being is inherently wrong. (Uh … duh.) Of course, there are certain extreme scenarios in which killing someone can be forgiven, or even encouraged, such as in self-defense, or as perhaps such as in another scenario I mused about a little while back. But generally (ie. in 99.9% of cases), any person who commits murder – that is, the “Intentional homicide (the taking of another person's life), without legal justification or provocation”, as per the legal definition – deserves to be punished, and as harshly as possible, without resorting to capital punishment (which I do not believe is ever justified, except in some extreme, and extremely rare, cases). In such cases where a murder takes another person’s life for no valid reason other than malice, or greed, a lifetime of imprisonment is just the thing I’d recommend.

However, I am far from happy to learn that this is the sentence handed down to Sarah Kruzan, a 16-year-old girl in California, for killing her pimp. The video below tells it all.

Let’s set a few things straight:

1) Life sentence for juveniles and anyone under 18 needs to be abolished. Under that age, you are simply not mature, experienced and responsible enough to fully comprehend the full scope of your actions. Any juvenile who commits a crime, no matter how horrible, should not have the rest of their life stripped from them forevermore without a chance to earn their freedom later on by repenting and reforming.

2) No life sentence should ever be without parole. Ever. Either the criminal is violent and/or dangerous enough to merit capital punishment (in accordance with state our federal laws, that is), or they should be kept behind bars unless or until they’ve had their chance to redeem themselves, however difficult or unlikely that may be. Everyone (should they not be sentenced to death) deserves a second chance.

3) Sarah Kruzan should be paroled, as my father would say, “right fucking now”. She does NOT deserve a lifetime of imprisonment for her actions. Or any jail time at all. Does she deserve punishment? Yes. She did, after all, take a life in a way that we’re told did not constitute self-defense^[1] in the face of any immediate danger to her life. Even she herself admits she believes she deserves some punishment. But not having her whole fucking life taken away from her without parole.

Was she right to kill her oppressor as she did? Honestly, I cannot say that she was, being very pro-life^[2] myself. The man should’ve been thrown in jail for many, many years, and not released until he showed some genuine remorse for his actions. But, also, I cannot honestly say I blame the girl for killing him. I don’t think it was the right thing to do – which should’ve been to run and alert someone, such as the cops – but to deny that I would probably have done the exact same thing in her situation is to lie baldfacedly. You can’t resent someone for doing something you yourself would’ve done in their place.

Is Sarah innocent? No. She is effectively guilty of killing her pimp. But the attenuating circumstances prevent me from thinking of her as a true criminal, and especially as someone who poses any sort of danger to anyone else. If saving yourself from a lifetime of misery, drugs, poverty and exploitation counts as self-defense, which in my book it certainly does, then her act was one of desperation and self-preservation, and certainly not of malice. What does she deserve, in my opinion? A quick release from jail, having her name cleared of any and all lasting repercussions, and perhaps a quick stint in rehab/reform school/whichever applies, before being allowed to rebuild her life. Whatever may be left of it.

Oh, and sidenote: fuck that sanctimonious so-called “judge” who said those things to and about Sarah. Seriously, that’s just repugnant.

[1] Legal definition of self-defense: “The protection of one's person or property against some injury attempted by another.”.

[2] Talking about my beliefs that people deserve to live, not the anti-abortion movement.

(via Uzza)