The media has been swarming with news about the recent Standford rape case. Many questions have been asked regarding what should or should not be considered rape, and concerns about how the judicial system handles these cases have come to light recently.
The starting details: Brock Turner was found on top of an unconscious woman near the Kappa Alpha fraternity house when two men passing by restrained him until law enforcement arrived. Turner was sentenced to six months, but ended up only serving half of that due to good behavior.
The fact that Turner served a measly three months for something that will haunt this woman for her life is despicable. Many are up in arms about it, as we all should be. Turner should have gotten years, not months. And even though his father believes that his son shouldn’t be punished for “20 minutes of action,” Turner’s actions, no matter how long, deserve the severest sentence. As many as one in four women experience sexual assault while at college, but due to the difficult and stigmatized process of reporting it, this statistic may be even higher. In cases like this, a false sense of justice is created, but an underlying knowledge of how truly unfair things ended up creates an even more trepidatious atmosphere for victims to fight through.
To add insult to injury, the case wasn’t even considered rape by California state law. Though the case originally started as a rape trial, those indictments were dropped early on. Instead, he was charged with assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated or unconscious person; penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object; and penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object. These charges carry lesser sentencing and remove the classification of “rapist” from Turner’s records. For an event to be considered rape, there must be penile penetration. Turner still had to register as a sex offender, however, meaning he can’t live near schools or parks and must register anywhere he lives. These charges still don’t do much work in amending the wrongs he committed.
The one good thing that may come from this case, however, is that the public is beginning to see the injustice and inconsistency of how certain states classify rape. Not only was Turner given an insignificant six-month sentence as to not put too much harm on his life; not only did he end up serving half of that due to “good behavior”; he also doesn’t even have to own up to what he truly did. To the law, he isn’t a rapist. The public’s outrage should also be directed toward lawmakers. No matter what was used, no matter how long it happened for, Brock Turner raped that girl. Full stop. Unconscious and fully incapable of defending herself in ANY capacity, he violated her body with foreign objects. Laws like that of California’s need to change. Lawmakers need to open their eyes. White, male athletes should get no breaks—rape is rape.