As many of you have seen, the Brock Turner case has swept the United States by storm. However, for those of you who may have just heard about this controversial topic, he is a 20-year-old former swimmer at Stanford University from Dayton, Ohio who raped a young 23-year-old woman without consent for twenty-minutes. What has caused an uproar with this particular case is the recent ruling issued by judged Aaron Persky last Thursday who sentenced him to six months in county jail, probation for three years, and mandatory registration of California's sexual offender list for the rest of his life. You may be wondering why I'm writing about such a controversial topic. Well, it's not about white privilege or about specific topics of racism. It's about looking at how the legal process TRULY breaks down these cases, how to not make accusations without knowing the facts, and finally addressing the core issues at hand which the United States has failed to resolve.
The victim who is not mentioned but usually in the legal system is called "Jane Doe," went to a fraternity party with her younger sister on January 17, 2015. Additionally, she was not a student at Stanford and was highly intoxicated. She then recalled waking up in the hospital the next morning with no recollection on what had happened the night before. Additionally, in her statement to the police, she remembered attending the party and drinking but didn't recall anything else. Interestingly, her statement clearly mentioned as follows:
On January 17th, 2015, it was a quiet Saturday night at home. My dad
made some dinner and I sat at the table with my younger sister who was
visiting for the weekend. I was working full time and it was approaching
my bed time. I planned to stay at home by myself, watch some TV and
read, while she went to a party with her friends. Then, I decided it was
my only night with her, I had nothing better to do, so why not, there’s
a dumb party ten minutes from my house, I would go, dance weird like a
fool, and embarrass my younger sister. On the way there, I joked that
undergrad guys would have braces. My sister teased me for wearing a
beige cardigan to a frat party like a librarian. I called myself “big
mama,” because I knew I’d be the oldest one there. I made silly faces,
let my guard down, and drank liquor too fast not factoring in that my
tolerance had significantly lowered since college.
Unfortunately, for her, she was raped behind a dumpster, and this horrific incident went down hill from there. The difficult aspect about this case is that she couldn't thoroughly recall every detail or sequence of events of that night. Additionally, in her statement she also mentioned that she called her boyfriend that night. This states as follows:
My boyfriend did not know what happened, but called that day and said, “I was really worried about you last night, you scared me, did you make it home okay?” I was horrified. That’s when I learned I had called him that night in my blackout, left an incomprehensible voicemail, that we had also spoken on the phone, but I was slurring so heavily he was scared for me, that he repeatedly told me to go find my sister.
This case had Turner back in March, convicted by twelve members of the jury (consisting of both male and female) of several felony charges on the basis of assault with the intent to commit rape of an intoxicated or unconscious person, penetration of an intoxicated person, and penetration of an unconscious person. However, he was only charged for a mere six months in county jail. Here's why.
When any legal case goes to a court, the District Attorney (DA) they're lawyers for the state and they are to find the person guilty. They also stack as many charges against the defendant as possible. In criminal cases the plaintiff or the person bringing the allegations to the courts is the DA. Additionally, not all of these charges will be finalized by a judge. In this case, there was no overlapping evidence for the other charges. That is why he was only charged for the one felony. It was even stated by the judge that:
The punishment does not fit the crime and the predatory offender has failed to take responsibility, failed to show remorse and failed to tell the truth. The sentence does not factor in the true seriousness of this sexual assault, or the victim’s ongoing trauma. Campus rape is no different than off-campus rape. Rape is rape. And I will prosecute it as such.
This statement proves that judge Persky was not about granting Turner a slap on the wrist if you will. Rather, he actually, carefully analyzed the case and sentenced the defendant for what he deserves; the other charges could not be finalized by the judge due to the lack of evidence each one specifies. Turner is now expelled from Stanford, will be in six months of county jail, and is socially toast. He will never be able to get a job, cannot participate in USA Swimming for life, nor pursue school at prestigious institutions like Stanford ever again because of his record.
The message of this story is, no matter if you are a male or a female, think before you do anything. One decision could get you into a lot of trouble. Campuses need to educate their students more about rape and resources to use. Most importantly, especially in relation to this case one needs to be mindful of alcohol, as it is a double edged sword.
Alcohol has the ability to forge friendships and enable people to do things in a confident way one would never do. It's a plateau it can make you feel good, outgoing, or at other times numb. However, it also has the capability of destroying lives. This is why our society which is centered around this duality of saying that it's okay to drink at 21 but bad at 19 is kind of like a dog chasing its tail. I just want to make it clear, I don't condone underage drinking. What I'm saying is that our society has a mindset of abstinence such as implementing "dry campuses" and stricter rules because that's what our political system deems appropriate; when in fact drinking and other serious crimes escalate because young adults rebel against the system. The key solely lies in educating our kids of our generation. They need to be in a threshold at home or around family where they can learn their limits, what their comfort levels are, and won't be behind the wheel, or cause any more issues such as this case. Not at a frat party learning your limits. At age 21 we are expected to learn all of the rules and our own limits. That is not okay.
Most of all, we need to make better choices. This case I hate to say it has A LOT of poor judgment in it. The victim who I do feel incredibly sorry for, should not have been drinking to the extent she was while visiting her sister, then leaving the party by herself on a campus that she was unfamiliar with. Not a good choice. The same instances can apply to men as well. I've seen it where guys wander the streets of Philadelphia unsure of where they are due to being intoxicated. Everyone needs to think before they drink or do anything. That's the bottom line.
We need to change how our society views alcohol which causes rape causes such as this one to occur along with other detrimental effects such as drunk driving ect. Parents, friends, teachers, politicians, and to the rest of the world, stop covering your eyes and putting your fingers in your ears to ignore the issues. Go out and expose these issues in order to educate and ultimately transform how our society thinks we need to be taught. Moreover, the most important take away is to THINK before you do something because poor judgement can get you into a lot of trouble being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
