If you have been on Facebook or watched the news over the past week, you have undoubtedly heard about the Stanford student who was sentenced to six months in prison for raping an unconscious woman. With lots of opinions on both sides of the case, let’s take a look at the facts and try to answer some common questions.
On January 18, 2015, Brock Turner, a student-athlete at California’s elite Stanford University, was arrested after two students found him having sex with an unconscious female behind a dumpster on the University’s campus in Palo Alto. Both intoxicated, the woman (to protect her identity, her name will not be used) had a blood alcohol content of more than three times the legal limit while Turner had a blood alcohol content of more than double the legal limit. With a plethora of evidence and witnesses, Brock Turner was charged with five separate felonies (later reduced to three felonies) including intent to commit rape and sexual penetration of an unconscious woman. After a two-week trial and two days of deliberation, the jury of four women and eight men found Brock Turner guilty of all charges. The conviction gave Turner the possibility of a 14-year prison sentence.
On June 2, 2016, at the sentencing hearing, prosecutors asked the judge to award Turner with a six-year prison sentence. Unnamed probation officers made a counter recommendation of just six months to be served in a more lenient county jail. The honorable Aaron Persky, a Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge, followed the recommendation of the probation officers and sentenced Turner to six months in county jail and three years of probation. Turner will also have his name added to the FBI’s sex offender registry which carries its own consequences. Judge Persky cited Turner’s lack of prior offenses and age when delivering the punishment and justified his decision, saying, “A [longer] prison sentence would have a severe impact on him.”
Jeff Rosen, the District Attorney prosecuting the case, slammed the judge's decision saying that Turner will likely only serve half of his sentence behind bars and that, “the punishment does not fit the crime.” Since the decision, supporters of the victim have started a nationwide petition against the judge.
Brock Turner’s father, Dan Turner, challenged the sentence for a different reason. In a letter to the judge, he argued that his son is not violent and should not be punished for “20 minutes of action.” The public has shamed Dan Turner for his letter and comments about his son’s case. Many are upset by how he dehumanized the victim and downplayed the seriousness of the rape case as “action."
When Brock Turner had the chance to defend himself in court he argued that this was a mistake uncharacteristic of him and that while they were both highly intoxicated, the victim consented to sexual intercourse. His defense attorneys focused on this point and argued that Turner did not rape the victim, he instead engaged in consensual intercourse with an intoxicated woman. The victim countered during her testimony, saying that she did not remember any of the events that took place that night and she believes that she was raped.
While we may never know exactly what happened on that January night, the trial has provided some facts along with two main outcomes: Brock Turner was found guilty of sexual assault by a jury of his peers and he is sentenced to serve up to six months in county jail with three years of probation. What these legal actions fail to show are the additional crimes and punishments that arise from that horrific night. It is clear that Brock Turner never anticipated being in this situation and six months in jail will have a profound impact on him. What is also clear is that a young woman will spend the rest of her life recovering from this traumatic experience.
Brock Turner and his entourage are probably correct, he is not typically a violent person. His previous actions, however, do not change the undeniable fact that he was proven guilty of sexual assault beyond any reasonable doubt. How good of a person Brock Turner is under normal circumstances does not change the fact that he raped an innocent woman.
While Brock Turner was sentenced to six months in county jail, the victim received a far worse punishment of life in prison. No, her prison won’t have armed guards or watchtowers like Turner’s will, instead, her prison will be built with bricks of guilt, bars of fear, and walls of flashbacks separating her from the happiness she once had. When Turner decided to rape an innocent woman, he gave a death sentence to her soul and to her happiness. I thought that, in America, we punished criminals and not victims. What we have seen in the state of California is a mockery of our legal system where Brock Turner became the judge, jury, and executioner to a young woman whose only crime was being a woman.
If you rape an innocent person and put them in a prison of their own for the rest of their life, I believe that your punishment should match theirs. In what free country can you take away the rights of another human being and only earn yourself six months in county jail?
To the victims of this heinous crime, your country stands with you. In the land of the free, you have certain unalienable rights; among those are the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We know that the punishment doesn’t match the crime in this case, but unfortunately, there’s no changing it. I hope you will continue in your pursuit of happiness and find peace in your heart.
National Sexual Assault Hotline: 800.656.HOPE (4673)
