OK, the obvious reasons that Brock Turner's sentence was far too long are things like the fact that he was having trouble keeping up with his normal diet during the trial. I don't know if it was mentioned, but he was a pretty good swimmer and he comes from a wealthy family. These are all things that any reasonable person would say excuses rape, but the funny thing about this case is that his actions don't even need excusing because he didn't do it, party culture did. It was the alcohol that raped a girl and left her behind a dumpster, we've all been to parties, we know that vodka makes it impossible to not rape a girl behind a dumpster. Yeah, there are things he could have done differently, like not raping a girl behind a dumpster, but hey, we all make mistakes and we certainly can not allow 20 minutes of action to determine the rest of his life, right?
(Do you sense the sarcasm?)
But here is the real reason that Brock Turner was punished too harshly. It's because he was punished at all. 63 percent of rapes are not reported, if you look at just college campuses that number jumps to 90 percent. That means that by spending just three months behind bars, Brock Turner was punished harsher than 90 percent of other rapists. Now let's just focus on that "unlucky" 10 percent, how statistically unlucky that they even have to deal with this at all, but don't worry rapist friend you probably won't even go to trial unless you are VERY unlucky, and even then that trial will just be a fun time to hang out, get some time off work, slut-shame the victim (I'm sorry, "alleged" victim), and eventually for you to walk out free.
So, first and foremost only 18 percent of reported rapes will lead to an arrest at all, the other 82 percent of rapists, congrats, you're in the clear! Enjoy the fact that you got to emotionally traumatize another person and face no repercussions. Now you 18 percent maybe start worrying a little, just kidding, statistically, you're still fine. Only 21 percent of you arrested fun loving rapists will even have to deal with the case being picked up by a prosecutor. OK, so there's another 79 percent of you that are good to go. Hand me your wrist, I'll slap it and you can go on your way. Now, I'll be honest it might be time to worry, statistics don't appear to be really on your side here, it's very unlucky that you have reached this point. You may even begin to feel a little attacked. Yeah, so did the person you raped. Anyway, so we've got some rape cases picked up by prosecutors, of those cases, 54 percent will receive felony convictions, but if you are in that group you still have one more chance because in 14 percent of cases with a felony conviction the perpetrator will not spend even a day in jail. So, you can have a jury of your peers look at you and say "you are guilty of rape" and still you can walk right out. If you've been following along with your calculator, like I have been, you will see that 99 percent of rapists will never see the inside of a jail cell.
So, by spending three months in jail, Brock Turner was punished more harshly than 99 percent of people who have committed the same crime. By spending three months in jail, Brock was really kind of the victim (that only makes sense if you really don't think about it at all). A new school year has started, 1 out of every 5 women on a college campus and 1 out of every 16 men will be the victim of a sexual assault before they graduate. The only way this will stop is if we stop accepting it because it is a sad reality when it is possible to look at three months in a jail cell for raping a girl behind a dumpster as a victory.
Statistics from:
Rennison, C. A. (2002). Rape and sexual assault: Reporting to police and medical attention, 1992-2000 [NCJ 194530]. Retrieved from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics: http://bjs.ojp. usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/rsarp00.pdf
Fisher, B., Cullen, F., & Turner, M. (2000). The sexual victimization of college women (NCJ 182369). Retrieved from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/182369.pdf
Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2010-2014 (2015); ii. Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Incident-Based Reporting System, 2012-2014 (2015); iii. Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Incident-Based Reporting System, 2012-2014 (2015); iv. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2009 (2013).
Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Rape and Sexual Victimization Among College-Aged Females, 1995-2013 (2014).
Krebs, C. P., Lindquist, C., Warner, T., Fisher, B., & Martin, S. (2007). The campus sexual assault (CSA) study: Final report. Retrieved from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/221153.p...
