Brock Turner was released from prison just after 6 a.m. (PST) on September 2 after serving three months in prison for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. Turner's case made national news and was met with significant outrage at the outcome of his trial. The judge sentenced him to only six months when the recommended penalty was six years. He was put in county jail instead of state jail and giver a lighter sentence because a harsher penalty would "significantly affect his life." On top of getting an unreasonably short sentence, he was given credit for time served. So three months later, Turner is free to go home and leave California and Stanford behind. So what happens now?
The movement to recall Judge Persky is still substantial. As per his request, he will no longer be hearing criminal cases, instead focusing on civil, nonviolent cases. At least the people he will be sentencing won't be a violent threat to every woman they come across. He took more consideration to how Turner was dealing with the conviction than to how the victim and every woman he would come across in his life would feel being near him. Turner will get to return home, be on probation for three years, and register as a sex offender. And have his dad make him a rib-eye steak as a welcome home dinner. While registering as a sex offender, there are different tiers that require different levels of supervision. Turner should be registering in the top tier, but who knows if that will happen. That might make too big of a negative impact on his life as well. He also is forbidden from stepping foot back onto Stanford's campus ever again and banned from USA Swimming.
There is currently a bill that is ready to become a law in the state of California that would require a prison sentence for anyone charged with sexually assaulting an unconscious or intoxicated person. That person would be required to be put into state jail instead of county jail and serve a real sentence. Turner's case sparked a nationwide conversation about race, the equality and effectiveness of the justice system, and how sexual assault survivors are treated in this country by the police and court system. This conversation needs to continue so that situations that the victim was put in stop.
