As a former swimmer myself, I am beyond upset that a swimmer would do what he did. But for some reason, the media keeps labeling him as just that. A swimmer. I can't recall one news article that called him for what he is - a rapist.

For those of you who live under a rock, here's what went down: Brock Turner was arrested for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman in January of 2015. They were both intoxicated but that isn't the point here. Turner faced up to 14 years in prison for what he did but instead received 6 months. The judge was worried a "stiffer" sentence would have a severe impact on the 20 year old. In fact, Turner's father, Dan Turner, wrote in a letter, "His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve. The letter was arguing that his son should receive probation, not jail time. “That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life.” TWENTY. MINUTES. OF. ACTION. I'm sorry... What?! We are talking about a brutal sexual assault - one where Turner would not even recognize the woman he raped because he was so intoxicated. The fact that the father of Turner called this "action" is absolutely appalling.

Well yesterday, this young man was released from jail. He only served 3 of the 6 months of his sentence and was let go due to "good behavior" and people are outraged. Yes, he will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. And yes, he is indeed banned from USA Swimming and the Stanford campus but these are small in the big scheme of things. We should all set our feelings aside (as hard as that may be) and think about how the victim must feel. She must feel unsafe and that the ruling for her rapist was unfair. She must be cringing at the thought that this guy is back on the loose and can attack other women as well. She must feel absolutely sick to her stomach.

We live in a world that lets rich, white, student athletes off the hook for a major crime and puts someone else away for half (or more) of their life for the same exact crime. So why is there this special treatment? Why does he get to get out on "good behavior" when he should definitely still be in jail? If we live in a country where "everyone is equal," why is there such separation in how we convict criminals?