You’ve all heard the stories by now: “Former Stanford swimmer sexually assaults unconscious woman”. That swimmer was Brock Turner, now commonly recognized as “the Stanford Rapist”. Not only has the the case been extremely controversial, but it highlighted major flaws in ethical legal pursuit. So let’s break it down, and see why this case was such a failure of our justice system.
Turner was convicted of three felony counts:
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Assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated or unconscious person
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Penetration of an intoxicated person
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Penetration of an unconscious person.
His sentence was disgustingly short due in part to the language used in California laws. “Sexual assault” is different from “rape” because it only accounts for penetration with a foreign object, while rape only applies to intercourse. This is complete nonsense; sexual assault is just as traumatizing and harmful as rape. End of story. There’s no reason they should differ in punishment. Prosecutors fought for six years in prison, but Judge Persky gave Turner six months in jail, and that in turn was reduced to three months on account of “good behavior”. Good behavior meaning what? He refused to own up to his actions. He did not apologize. His father described his crime as “20 minutes of action”. His mother wept for his inability to eat his favorite food: steak.
There was outrage across the country. People protested, called for the judge who delivered the sentence to step down, called for Turner to receive a more fitting punishment. Brock Turner is a criminal and he was rewarded for nonexistent good behavior.
New legislature is in the process of being passed that will redefine sexual assault as well as the punishment for sexual assault cases. So, if it passes, the next Stanford rapist will serve at least 3 years in prison. The judge who delivered the sentence, Aaron Persky, had a hand in the shortened sentence as well. He believed Turner wasn’t at a high risk of being a repeat offender, and said that a longer prison sentence would have a “severe impact” on the criminal due to his age, and how much of his life he has yet to live. After a month in jail, Turner was moved to protective custody. Brock Turner is a criminal and yet his needs were taken into consideration, not the dignity of the survivor.
Turner was treated with kid gloves throughout the entirety of the case, thanks to our victim-blaming society that recognizes and rewards dominant, privileged groups. He was recognized as a student of Stanford University, a good student and son with a bright future. Where was the mention of his atrocious crime? Where was the criticism for his excessive drinking? Why wasn’t he punished for being irresponsible? Where the hell was Persky’s sympathy for the woman Turner had violated? Where was the respect for her? The entire story exploded only after the survivor released a letter to Turner in which she detailed all the pain that he had inflicted on her. He claims he had no memory of the night, and yet can detail their experience enough to claim that she gave consent. Meanwhile, she can’t remember a thing. He took her away from the party, her sister, her friends, and safety, and took advantage of her unconscious state. Both were under the influence of alcohol: he was twice the legal limit, she was three times the legal limit.
The moral of the story here is that our society only cares about victims who stand up for themselves, and even then they don’t get the justice they deserve. The moral here is that rapists can walk free while their victims suffer in silence, forced to advocate for themselves. The moral of the story is that one woman who suffered immensely came forward, raised hell, and ultimately made a change in the way California will treat cases of sexual assault and rape in the future. The moral here is that our justice system has no sympathy for a survivor and preserved the future of a criminal.
For the most part.
Because three months isn’t the total extent of his punishment. Those “20 minutes” will haunt him for the next three years while he’s on probation, and for the rest of his life as he is now a registered sex offender. While he’s home trying to eat steak, she will be in therapy. While he has to re-register as a sex offender and introduce himself to his neighbors as such, she will hopefully be healing and growing. While he lives with protesters outside his door and the label “rapist” attached to him for the rest of his days, she will be moving forward. She may not have gotten the judicial justice she deserved, but we hope she and her family heal from this trauma. Future cases will look back on this one and justice will be served. In the meantime, Turner gets to live with the fact that his family, friends, and partners past and future will all know his story and what he’s done, which combined with new legislature is a small step in the direction of justice. #JusticeforStanfordRapeVictim