Rapist Brock Turner--not former Stanford student and ex-swimmer--sexually assaulted a 22-year-old woman, "Emily Doe," behind the dumpster of two fraternity houses on January 18, 2015. Since then, he has been tried, sentenced to six months in prison, and released only after three. He then registered as a sex offender in Ohio and has been enjoying freedom despite the protests of many.
Now a quick breakdown of what has happened since January, 2015:
On the 18th, two college students found Brock Turner raping an unconscious woman behind the dumpster during a fraternity party. After the discovery, they chased him down and held him until the police came. A month later, trials began, and Brock Turner plead not guilty. The hearing was held a few months later on October 10. In March of 2016, Brock Turner was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault, and sentenced to six months in prison. Then, on September 2nd, he was released after serving only three months of his sentence. Due to this, many rallied outside of his home in protest.
What brought this case to the nation's attention was two letters that were released: one from the victim, and one from Brock Turner's father. The first letter was from the victim and was read aloud in court. This letter was what first brought the nation's attention to the case. In the letter, she detailed the normal day she had before the rape, how she had learned of what happened, what was done to her in the hospital, the after effects, and her frustrations. Her frustration was with how the court and the news were treating the case, About how, "At the bottom of the article, after I learned the graphic details of my own sexual assault, the article listed his swimming times."
The second letter, from Brock Turner's father, Dan Turner, was also read in court and outraged many. In the letter, his father pleaded for the judge to only sentence his son to probation. He stated, "His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve. That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his twenty plus years of life."
That sentence, along with others, is what outraged many (including myself). The reason this case has gotten so big is because of how much it reflects hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of other rape cases here in the US. It also represents the rape culture--the ways in which society blames victims of sexual assault and normalizes sexual violence--that is present in the US. Many people also argue that the judge took the fact that Brock Turner is a young male college athlete into account when he gave his sentence. But the law should apply to everyone, no matter their status, age, gender, or race. The case overall showcases how poorly courts often deal with rape cases, as well as the views toward rape victims.
