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Current status (May 2024): Chrystul is currently in pre-trial detention in Kenosha. Her trial is slated for November 2024.
Randall P. Volar III first contacted Chrystul Kizer when she was 16 years old. Volar trafficked Kizer from Milwaukee to Kenosha, Wisconsin and subjected her to ongoing physical and sexual abuse. According to Chrystul and her legal counsel, on June 5, 2018, when Chrystul was 17 years old, she resisted Volar’s attempts to forcibly engage in sexual activity. During this struggle, Chrystul shot Volar in an act of self-defense. Prior to his death, officials in Kenosha knew about Randy Volar’s history of sexual abuse against young Black girls. In February 2018, Volar, a 33-year old white man, was arrested on multiple charges including child sexual assault and was released without bail. Police had collected evidence that shows Volar had been sexually abusing multiple Black girls, including Chrystul.
Randall P. Volar III first contacted Chrystul Kizer when she was 16 years old. Volar trafficked Kizer from Milwaukee to Kenosha, Wisconsin and subjected her to ongoing physical and sexual abuse. According to Chrystul and her legal counsel, on June 5, 2018, when Chrystul was 17 years old, she resisted Volar’s attempts to forcibly engage in sexual activity. During this struggle, Chrystul shot Volar in an act of self-defense. Prior to his death, officials in Kenosha knew about Randy Volar’s history of sexual abuse against young Black girls. In February 2018, Volar, a 33-year old white man, was arrested on multiple charges including child sexual assault and was released without bail. Police had collected evidence that shows Volar had been sexually abusing multiple Black girls, including Chrystul.
In the state of Wisconsin, people under the age of 18 years old are legally not able to consent to engage in sexual activity therefore, any “sexual conduct” Volar had with these girls, including Chrystul, was sexual violence. Chrystul has been charged, wrongfully, for surviving violence. She is being criminalized for staying alive.
In the state of Wisconsin, people under the age of 18 years old are legally not able to consent to engage in sexual activity therefore, any “sexual conduct” Volar had with these girls, including Chrystul, was sexual violence. Chrystul has been charged, wrongfully, for surviving violence. She is being criminalized for staying alive.
Chrystul’s criminalization fits the pattern of Black people in general and Black women and girls specifically being denied the right to self-defense in US legal systems. Black girls and women are not seen by courts, or society more broadly, as being vulnerable to violence, even though they experience disproportionate levels of violence compared to white women and girls. Overall, Black/African American girls are 3.5 times more likely to be incarcerated than white girls. Studies by the ACLU show that the majority of girls in juvenile detention have experienced both physical and sexual assault prior to their incarceration. In a study by the Medical College of Wisconsin on sex trafficking in the city of Milwaukee (2013-16), 65% of victims under age 25 were Black/African American and 24% were white. Further, studies on women in prison demonstrate that women who are victims of abuse are more likely to be in prison for a violent offense than incarcerated women who had not been victims of abuse.
Chrystul’s criminalization fits the pattern of Black people in general and Black women and girls specifically being denied the right to self-defense in US legal systems. Black girls and women are not seen by courts, or society more broadly, as being vulnerable to violence, even though they experience disproportionate levels of violence compared to white women and girls. Overall, Black/African American girls are 3.5 times more likely to be incarcerated than white girls. Studies by the ACLU show that the majority of girls in juvenile detention have experienced both physical and sexual assault prior to their incarceration. In a study by the Medical College of Wisconsin on sex trafficking in the city of Milwaukee (2013-16), 65% of victims under age 25 were Black/African American and 24% were white. Further, studies on women in prison demonstrate that women who are victims of abuse are more likely to be in prison for a violent offense than incarcerated women who had not been victims of abuse.
Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley has stated to members of the public and media outlets that Chrystul was merely “hired as a prostitute,” “involved in a business transaction,” and that she had “come to this community from another [to kill her trafficker].” These statements and the charges against Chrystul signal to her family and the larger community that Black women and girls do not live lives worth saving. Chrystul was a child and was being victimized and sexually exploited by an adult. The state willfully decided not to protect Black girls from Volar when his abuse was first brought to the attention of the Kenosha Police Department in February 2018. Instead, the state has put resources and time into punishing Chrystul for her survival. Black girls have the right to resist sexual violence and the right to survive.
Child sex trafficking survivors, including Chrystul, need community and comprehensive support to heal from the trauma and violence they have endured. Incarceration at this young, formative age does not provide needed healing, it compounds trauma. In no report on child sex trafficking that we are aware of is incarceration a recommended approach to healing survivors. Rather, experts on child sex trafficking have highlighted incarceration as a problem survivors face. Chrystul should not spend the rest of her life in prison.
In June 2020, the Free Chrystul Kizer Defense Committee, Chicago Community Bond Fund, Milwaukee Freedom Fund, and Survived and Punished paid Chrystul’s $400,000 bond so she can continue fighting her case from outside of a cage and with the support of her community. In Chrystul Kizer’s case, justice means dropping all charges so she can be released immediately from the limitations on her freedom that having to go on trial imposes.
In June 2020, the Free Chrystul Kizer Defense Committee, Chicago Community Bond Fund, Milwaukee Freedom Fund, and Survived and Punished paid Chrystul’s $400,000 bond so she can continue fighting her case from outside of a cage and with the support of her community. In Chrystul Kizer’s case, justice means dropping all charges so she can be released immediately from the limitations on her freedom that having to go on trial imposes.
Throughout pre-trial hearings, organizers from Milwaukee, across Wisconsin, and beyond have worked to uplift Chrystul’s story and generate community support to demand DA Graveley drop all charges. To support Chrystul, you can sign her petition and demand the Kenosha DA drop her charges.
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