The Edge of 17: One City, Two Teenagers, 3 Murders

On August 25, 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old, shot and killed two men and wounded another in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In 2018, Chrystul Kizer, at age 17 shot and killed a 34-year-old man. Rittenhouse pled self defense and was acquitted, in November 2021.  Kyzer  claimed self defense and was sentenced to 11 years in prison in August 2024. Kyle Rittenhouse is a white male and Chrystul Kizer is a black female.

Kyle Rittenhouse, armed with an AR 15 rifle traveled across state lines from Antioch Illinois to Kenosha Wisconsin “to protect private property” at a protest for the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man who was left paralyzed after an encounter with a white officer. Mr Rittenhouse claimed Mr. Joseph Rosenbaum said he’d kill him so he shot him 4 times in self defense. After Rittenhouse shot and killed Rosenbaum, he was chased by Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz; Rittenhouse shot both of them, Killing Huber and injuring Grosskreutz in self defense.

Chrystul Kizer was sexually abused and trafficked by Randall Volar when she was 16. At the age of 17, as Voller began to abuse her again, she shot him. I wrote about this in November of 2021 and her sentencing was this week.

A 2019 Washington Post investigation showed that the Kenosha Police Department knew Volar was abusing underage Black girls for nearly three months before his death. After a 15-year-old Black girl fled from his home in nothing but a bra and jacket, police raided Volar’s residence and found hundreds of videos of child sexual abuse; among the stash were videos Volar had made of Kizer and girls who appeared to be as young as 12. But while the investigation continued, police and prosecutors allowed Volar to remain free.

Chrystul Kizer Got 11 Years in Prison for Killing Her Abuser. This Is Justice?

There is more to each story, but these are the basics that fit a pattern. Men who claim self defense are found not guilty versus women who claim self defense are found guilty. Sadly, this is true.

More than two dozen states have self-defense laws that allow for the use of force when someone feels threatened in their home or other locations. But some women, especially women of color, who try to use self-defense laws don’t get the same protections, particularly in cases of domestic violence.

PBS

In U.S. law, killing in self-defense is not a crime; however for most women, neither the laws of self-defense nor evidence of battering work for women in actual trials. Hence 75-80% of women who killed in self-defense are convicted or convinced to plead guilty, and are sentenced to long terms.

No Right of Self Defense

You can learn more about each of these cases and the detail. There are two teenagers, one is armed and crosses state lines with the intent to protect private property during a protest and claims self defense for murder and another who asked for help from a sex trafficker who began to abuse her and claims self defense for murder.  This week consider the discrepancy in the tale of two teenagers on the edge of 17.