An All too Familiar Story

Sarah Kruzan grew up in Riverside, California. She was often abused by her drug-addicted mother with whom she lived. In spite of that Sarah was determined to excel and did so. She consistently made the honor roll, ran track and even won a Young Author's Award for writing a book on the effects of drugs. But her mother's addiction continued and the abuse she handed out as a result became too much for Sarah to bear. So she ran away from home one day. As is so often the case with young women who find themselves on the streets, and homeless, it wasn't long before she met a 31-year-old man, G.G., who 'befriended' her and became the father figure Sarah and many of her young friends never knew.

G.G. was skillful. He took Sarah and her friends to the movies, bought them clothes on shopping sprees, went skating with them and basically endeared himself to Sarah and her friends. Naturally Sarah became dependent upon him and soon there wasn't anything she wouldn't do for him. Sarah, like so many young ladies in comparable situations, didn't have a 'father' figure around to help them, someone to help nurture their dreams and provide shelter and comfort and advice. So G.G. filled that void nicely, just as the best of pimps do so well. It wasn't long before he raped her, and convinced her to sell herself to men on his behalf. It was his just reward for taking her in and providing for her and Sarah 'agreed.' She began a life of prostitution and 'fell in love' with G.G. Sarah didn't even have a chance.

Today, Sarah Kruzan is 29 years-old and serving a life sentence for having murdered the man who 'turned her out' at the tender age of 13. I'm not sure of the events that most immediately caused her to kill G.G., but certainly after long and continued physical and mental abuse by him, she felt she had no other way out. And while premeditated murder is never right we must learn to understand the root causes that lead to such tragic situations. Sara is smart, articulate and remorseful for having taken a life. Listen to her talk in the video that accompanies the story. The judge could have sentenced her as a juvenile but he didn't. I would argue that at some point Sarah should be released so she can live a productive life and help other young women avoid making the same mistakes that she made. And there are many, many young women like Sarah who are victimized by an older, savvy, manipulative pimps who have no other recourse. In many ways, society is the real culprit.