Over the course of the past week, Brock Turner, former Stanford swimmer, made national headlines with his punishment - or lack thereof - for his involvement in a 2015 sexual assault case. While prosecutors fought for a six-year sentence for Turner’s acts of assault, a California judge gave Turner a mere six months for what his father described as “20 minutes of action.” It goes without saying that the so-called “punishment” is a despicable miscarriage of justice, but the most unsettling aspect of this case is not the sentencing itself, but the potential that this case had to change, and possibly end, the culture of campus rape.
While it’s wildly unhealthy to spend time pondering the what could have beens of life, this case demands the question to be asked. How would the campus rape culture be different if Turner had received the prosecutor's desired sentencing? How would said sentencing bridge the gap between Caucasian and African American defendants in sexual assault cases? What precedent would be set if Turner was not granted supposedly special treatment due to his economic and societal standing?
For decades, instances of sexual assault on college campuses were whispered in hushed tones across university grounds, failing to gain the attention and justice they deserve. As a female college student, I like to think that we have made leaps and bounds in addressing these heinous crimes, as both the media and educational institutions foster an open discussion of the truths and statistics of sexual assault. The issue of sexual assault on university campuses is becoming horrifically normalized, as one in four women endure an instance of sexual assault in her college career, but despite the overwhelming presence of assault, there seems to be very little advancement in the actual sentencing and punishment of those committing the crimes.
The case of Brock Turner being convicted of the intent to rape an intoxicated/unconscious person, penetration of an intoxicated person and penetration of an unconscious person provided the legal system with the opportunity to set the standard of justice and respect for victims. Instead, the ruling continued the trend of injustice and maltreatment, as yet another offender of sexual assault walked out of the courtroom escaping the true breadth of the punishment, teaching no lessons of fairness and sending no message of integrity. Yes, Brock’s “actions,” lasted the course of what his father describes as “20 minutes,” but the victim will carry the pain of that incident around with her for the rest of her life. Why should Brock Turner be exempt from his punishment when the heartache he instilled on another will haunt her for a lifetime? Whether Turner’s light sentencing can be attributed to male privilege, class privilege, a combination of the two, or something else entirely, the corruption still exists, not only in this case, but in so many others.
Addressing and recognizing the issue of sexual assault on campus is of paramount importance to the well-being and safety of our society, but we cannot stop at a mere awareness - rather, we have to solve the problem and end the risk. Notorious in their miscarriages of justice and meager punishments, cases of campus sexual assault rarely bring about a change in the campus culture, whether they were brought before a court or dealt with within the university gates. However, the case of Brock Turner had the opportunity to change that. It had the potential to set a standard of applying the same set of rules to all offenders of assault regardless of their gender, economic class or social standing. It had the chance to teach a lesson of integrity and set a precedent of justice, not only for this one victim, but for all those who have been affected by sexual assault. It had the obligation to provide closure for a very scarred individual and set a tone of righteousness and honor within a very corrupt societal issue.
If the sentencing of Brock Turner prevented just one case of sexual assault, if the accountability he was forced to take changed the way just one person views the legal system, if justice was served and closure was found and Brock Turner was truly granted the punishment he deserved, this case could have reshaped the culture of campus assault. What could have been a landmark case that taught lessons of justice and set a zero-tolerance example for sexual assault, regardless of the variables of gender, race and class privilege, only strengthened the long-known issue of a blatant unfairness in this particular realm of law.
While it’s wildly unhealthy to spend time pondering the what could have beens of life, this case demands the question to be asked: If Turner’s sentencing had been different, could this case have changed, and possibly ended, the culture of campus rape?
