Every day, we see in the media some act based on violence, crime, and hate. It seems like someone is always being affected by murder, rape, or assault. While I wish more positive things could be shown on the news, there will always be some form of negativity and abhorrence in our world. Especially coming from my own, personal experience, I am here to express that it is never okay.

I’ll begin by saying that in recent years, there have been a couple select public offenders that have really stood out to me. The first one is named Brock Turner. Turner was a swimmer at Stanford University, who was arrested after raping an intoxicated, unconscious woman. Turner was only sentenced to six months in prison and served THREE out of the six. Not only did our justice system fail miserably, but in my opinion, Turner was basically given a slap on the wrist and subconsciously shown that what he did was okay.

Another public offender that has made my blood boil was Ariel Castro, the man who held three young women captive in his Cleveland, Ohio house for over a decade. Though Castro was sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years, it will never make up for the permanent physical and emotional damage done to Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight, and Gina DeJesus.

Now, I’m not just going on a rant here about how I feel about these disgusting criminals. I want to state that it is never acceptable to take away someone’s power over themselves. It sounds so obvious, yet we still have sick people who do things like every day. And personally, as a victim of physical assault, I know how it feels to be violated, embarrassed, and ashamed.

To Brock Turner, do you realize what you have done to this woman? You have stolen a lot from her. Things that are hard, if not impossible, to get back. You took advantage of her. You violated her body and mind. A person’s body is theirs and theirs alone, and it is no one’s right to touch, let alone have sexual intercourse with. When someone’s body is violated, they feel used, dirty, and disgusting. She is going to feel this way for years to come, if not the rest of her life. I highly doubt you recognize or even care, though. After all, you sure learned your lesson after only serving three months in prison.

To Ariel Castro, you were nothing but a coward. You kidnapped and held three women hostage, taking away their freedom. I’m sure you don’t realize what that feels like though, considering you had total power and control over them. When you were finally served justice, you couldn’t handle it and committed suicide in prison. Though these three women are now free, the memories of being chained up, abused, and locked away for ten years will forever haunt them. Not to mention, having to catch up on their entire lives after having a decade missed out on.

In case my readers haven’t noticed by now, I do not like when innocent people are wronged. Sure, maybe Brock Turner’s victim shouldn’t have been drinking so much, but by no means does that mean she “asked for it.” And maybe Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight shouldn’t have gotten a ride from a stranger, but that ride shouldn’t have led to a prison of frozen time.

When I hear these stories in the media, I wish I could just make the situations better. I wish I could comfort victims and guide them to help and recovery. Maybe as a social worker one day, I will. But sadly, our world and people will never be. I will always then come to this conclusion; “If the power of love could overcome the love of power, our world would know peace.”