Earlier this month, Brock Turner, who raped an incapacitated woman behind a dumpster, was sentenced to six months of jail time. Although prosecutors had asked that he be sentenced to six years in prison, Judge Aaron Persky was concerned that a longer sentence, in an actual prison, would have "a severe impact" on Turner.
Millions have, rightly so, responded to the short sentence with outrage. How could a rapist, caught in the act of assaulting his unconscious victim, get off with such a lenient sentence? The complex answer to that question includes the failure of our justice system to prioritize and protect victims of sexual violence, the privilege that comes from being middle class and white, and a culture that looks for reason to blame the victim instead of confronting the reality of this horrific crime. But while our rage largely comes from the failure of the U.S. Justice System to appropriately punish, there is also injustice in the Justice System's failure to help decrease the likelihood that someone like Brock Turner will reoffend post-incarceration.
While Judge Persky was convinced that Brock Turner "will not be a danger to others," Turner's words regarding his actions call this claim into question. He said he was in the process of creating a program for students in order to talk about his experience and “speak out against the college campus drinking culture and the sexual promiscuity that goes along with that.” He said he wants "to show people that one night of drinking can ruin a life." The assertion that college drinking culture and promiscuity are responsible for rape shows Turner's fundamental misunderstanding of his crime. Rapists cause rape. Nothing else. Not party culture, not sexual promiscuity. His focus on the ruining of his own life, which he is responsible for, shows the disregard with which he considers the victim. What about her life, which was torn apart by his crime?
Like many rapists, Brock Turner doesn't seem to understand that he is one. This denial is a product of our culture and the communities he has been a part of. It's a product of the toxic narrative surrounding consent and sexual assault. Cultural factors do not excuse the crime Turner committed, and do not lessen the pain he has caused. But locking him away is not, in itself, justice. Even if he were to serve a longer sentence, which millions of us believe he should, punishment alone would not ensure that he would not commit sexual violence again. The first step to improving a broken culture is trying to rehabilitate those who manifest the worst of it. Turner remains a danger to society until he takes true responsibility for his crime and understands not only the pain he has caused, but the cultural attitudes involved in his causing that pain.
More attention needs to be focused on the ways in which rapists and other criminals like Brock Turner can begin to break down the internalized sexism and male entitlement that goes into these destructive crimes. If the Justice System continues to see its job as simply incarcerating criminals, it does a disservice to society. Justice will not be served until rape culture is challenged and broken down, and a necessary step toward that is first ensuring that rapists confront and understand their crime.
