Kizer v. Rittenhouse: When Self-Defense Isn't Always So Black and White

How did the criminal justice system treat two 17-year-olds both accused of homcide in the same Wisconsin city when both claimed that their actions occurred in response to violence or threats made against them?

Let me paint a picture for you.

A 17-year-old Black girl kills the man who sexually abused and trafficked her.

A 17-year-old white boy brings a rifle to a protest and kills two people.

One goes to prison. The other goes home.

Now tell me, which one sounds more like self-defense to you?

If you guessed the first one…think again, because the American criminal justice system said otherwise.

These are the cases of Chrystul Kizer and Kyle Rittenhouse, two 17-year-olds from Kenosha, Wisconsin, whose vastly different experiences with the criminal justice system raise an uncomfortable but very real and important question: When it comes to self-defense, does race influence who gets to be seen as a victim and who gets treated as a criminal?

Chrystul Kizer and Kyle Rittenhouse pictured side by side. Photo: Getty Images; AP.

But who is Chrystul Kizer?

Kizer was just 17 years old when she shot and killed 34-year-old Randall Volar in 2018. But their relationship began a year earlier, when Kizer was only 16. According to Kizer, Volar sexually assaulted her, gave her money and gifts, and sold her to other men for sex. Even more disturbing, Volar had filmed his sexual abuse of Kizer for more than a year.

Perhaps most troubling, Kizer wasn't the only girl involved. Months before Volar's death, authorities had already obtained evidence that he was sexually abusing multiple underage Black girls. Yet Kizer would ultimately find herself facing the possibility of life in prison for killing him.

Wisconsin has a trafficking-victim defense for crimes committed as a direct result of trafficking. Kizer's attorneys argued that it applied to her; prosecutors argued that lawmakers couldn't have intended it to excuse homicide. In 2022, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Kizer was entitled to raise that defense at trial. Rather than risk a life sentence at trial, however, she accepted the 2024 plea to second-degree reckless homicide and was ultimately sentenced to 11 years in prison plus five years of extended supervision.

Chrystul Kizer listens as she sits with her attorneys during a hearing at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, May 2024.

But who is Kyle Rittenhouse?

Rittenhouse was also 17 when he arrived in Kenosha during protests following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in August 2020. Armed with an AR-style rifle, Rittenhouse said he was there to help protect businesses and provide medical assistance. During the unrest, Rittenhouse shot three people, killing Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz.

Rittenhouse argued that he fired in self-defense because he feared for his life during the confrontations. Video evidence showed Rosenbaum pursuing Rittenhouse before the first shooting, while Huber later struck Rittenhouse with a skateboard and Grosskreutz approached him while holding a handgun. In November 2021, a jury acquitted Rittenhouse of all charges after his attorneys argued that his use of deadly force was legally justified.

The verdict quickly became a source of national debate, with sharply different reactions to Rittenhouse’s acquittal. While some viewed the decision as a victory for self-defense rights, others questioned how an armed 17-year-old could enter an already tense protest, kill two people, and ultimately face no criminal conviction. The case became about more than what happened that night—it also raised larger questions about how self-defense is understood, who is perceived as threatening, who is perceived as afraid, and whose fear is ultimately considered justified.

Kyle Rittenhouse carries a weapon as he walks along Sheridan Road in Kenosha, Wis., during a night of unrest following the weekend police shooting of Jacob Blake. (Adam Rogan/The Journal Times via AP, File).

So, What’s the Difference?

Two 17-year-olds. Same city. Both killed people. Both claimed their actions were in response to violence or threats against them. Yet one was sentenced to 11 years in prison, while the other walked out of the courtroom acquitted. So, what made the difference?

Of course, the circumstances surrounding these cases are not identical. Rittenhouse faced immediate physical confrontations before the shootings, several of which were captured on video. Kizer’s defense was rooted in the prolonged sexual abuse and trafficking she experienced at the hands of Volar. But that difference raises an even bigger question: Why was Rittenhouse ultimately able to justify his use of deadly force as self-defense, while Kizer had to fight for years just to have her victimization recognized as a defense?

Kyle Rittenhouse breaks down on the stand as he testifies about his encounter with the late Joseph Rosenbaum. Sean Krajacic/Pool/File Photo.

That question becomes even harder to ignore when race and gender enter the picture. Research on the adultification of Black girls has found that Black girls are often perceived as older, less innocent, and less deserving of protection than their white peers. Kizer was not an adult woman; she was a 17-year-old trafficking victim. Yet the system that failed to protect her from a known abuser was prepared to potentially imprison her for life after she killed him.

Rittenhouse, however, was afforded the opportunity to convince a jury that despite killing two people, he was still the person in danger. The jury agreed. Kizer never received that same opportunity at trial; faced with the possibility of life imprisonment, she ultimately accepted a plea deal.

So maybe self-defense isn’t as simple as determining who feared for their life. Maybe it also depends on whose fear we are willing to believe. Kizer and Rittenhouse were both 17, but only one walked away without a conviction.

So I’ll ask again: which one sounds more like self-defense to you?