Brock Turner
John Enochs
David Becker
Alexander Rodriguez
Austin Wilkerson
Austin Clem
Chester Thompson
Daniel Ryerson
David Wise
Jeffery Adrams
Robert Richards
11 white men in 2016 alone were convicted of rape and then given either pathetically small sentences or were let off the hook completely.
When these men were given their sentences or lack thereof, the judge or jury decided to place their future quality of life far ahead of the life or lives of the woman or women these men raped.
Our judicial system seems to have decided that, if a rapist is a white athlete, they should be allowed to go about the rest of their lives without seeing any consequences for their actions. This is absolutely unacceptable. There is no standard set for convicting rapists because our judicial system has preferences on their "flavor" of rapist. If they are a black male, athlete or not, potential or not, they will be convicted, even if they were falsely accused. If they are a white male who has any form of potential, they will get a light or no sentence at all. This is what our judicial system is teaching us about the law and fairness.
The women these men raped will have vastly different lives than the one they always dreamed they would have. Many of them will spend the rest of their lives in fear and shame. They will wonder what they could have done to prevent what happened to them or how they could have been better. I don't know if having these men behind bars would change any of this for these women, but I do know that having these men out in the world puts other women in danger. The judicial system has taught these men that it doesn't matter what they do, to anyone. It has taught them that women are merely objects and deserve no respect. It has taught these men that they are good athletes or men with a bright future who happened to rape someone, instead of rapists who have a talent.
Whenever women are in an abusive relationship, most people wonder more about why she stays with him instead of wondering why he is abusive. Each court case that ends with a man getting no sentence or a ridiculously light sentence will tell abusers and rapists that what they are doing is okay and no matter what happens, they will always get off easy, as long as they have a "bright future."
These 11 rapists shouldn't be able to go about their lives normally without having to register as sex offenders, serve jail time, or have any kind of consequences for the horrific acts they committed. Friends and family of these rapists would like us to remember them as students with a future, brilliant, phenomenal athletes, and basically anything but what they are: rapists.