The media has been filled with complaints about Brock Turner this week. For those of you who do not know who Brock Turner is, he is a rapist that attended Stanford University. He was issued a six-month prison sentence, but he was released only three months in due to "good behavior."
There are many issues with this, for he brutally raped a girl behind a dumpster while she was drunk (most people agree that he should have received a much longer prison sentence). Upon reading the letter from the rape victim, she did tell the probation officer that she does not want Brock to rot away behind bars. She still said that he should go to prison, but not have a life-long sentence. She also said that she wants Brock to understand his wrong doing.
My personal belief is that Brock should have gotten a year-long jail sentence (due to a happy medium between what the victim wanted and what the judge wanted; otherwise, I believe rapists should be in jail for several years). On the bright side, he has to register as a Class III Sex Offender every 90 days. (A Class III Sex Offender is the highest on the chart, which means he is at high risk for being dangerous to the public.)
And to address Brock's father, who claims that his charges are "a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action," those 20 minutes of action are not all. The victim spent an entire year coping with what happened, and it is going to stick with her for the rest of the life. The two brave men who pulled Brock off of the victim were shaking and in tears when the police arrived, for they were traumatized by what they saw. In those 20 minutes of action, he caused physical damage to the victim (Yes, physical damage. The media failed to mention that she had pine needles shoved up in her due to the carelessness of Brock.), and he caused emotional damage to the victim and two men. So, no, Brock's father, that is not a steep price to pay at all.
Despite all of this disappointment, there is a silver lining to all of this. Thanks to the media coverage, Brock will have a difficult time getting a high-end job, finding a life-long partner, (because really, who is going to want to be in a relationship with a rapist and Sex Offender?) and living life normally. He is going to have to tell all of his neighbors that he is a sex offender, and any job that does not know who he is will immediately know with a quick Google search of his name. Even though his prison sentence was short, his life is ruined with the help of the media coverage.
The unfortunate side to this is that not every rapist has the same media coverage as Brock to ruin his life. "Out of every 1,000 rapes, 994 perpetrators will walk free." Rape is a giant issue that is not being addressed, and it needs to stop. No means no, maybe means no, and a drunk yes means no. Please, always be sure you have consent. If you or someone you know has been raped, please seek help.
"When people doubt or dismiss you, I am with you. I fought everyday for you. So never stop fighting, I believe you."
-Anonymous