As I'm sure most have heard by now, there is a lot of outrage and uproar surrounding the Stanford rape case. Former university student and swimmer, now 20-year old Brock Turner was arrested and charged for raping a 23-year old woman behind a dumpster on the night of January 18, 2015. He was chased away by two graduate students until police arrived and later would plead not guilty to 5 felonies. According to ABC News, those included: "attempted rape, rape of an intoxicated person, rape of an unconscious person, sexual penetration of an intoxicated woman and sexual penetration of an unconscious woman." He claimed that they were just hooking up after the party and that he only fondled her.
At his hearing on October 6, 2015, two of the charges were dropped, and he still pleaded not guilty to the 3 remaining against him. Thankfully on March 30 2016, he was found guilty of raping the woman. His sentencing hearing has been the most recent topic of conversation, and for good reason. On June 2, 2016 according to CNN, Turner was only sentenced to six months in jail and 3 years’ probation, as ruled by Judge Persky.
Stanford University released a statement defending how they handled the case in question, while the victim's statement to the courts went viral when BuzzFeed released it the day after the sentencing. Closely following that, a former friend and Stanford law professor Michele Dauber released the letter that Brock Turner's father wrote to the court, which defended his son and called the assault "20 mins of action."
All of these statements caused a media frenzy, which leaves many people wondering a lot of things. Where's the justice in this? Why isn't he being sentenced to years instead of months in jail? Why is he still being talked about as an All-American swimmer and scholar instead of a rapist?
These questions are all valid. Another important factor here is that his punishment does not fit his crime. He took away innocence and joy from a young woman. He decided to take advantage of her that night. While alcohol is a factor, it is not an excuse. Brock Turner has no one to blame but himself for what he did. He cannot use this as an 'educational moment' --and should not be allowed to come back to his home state of Ohio (or anywhere for that matter) to talk to other students about alcohol and 'college party culture.' He hurt this young woman, and he deserves to be punished for that.
Regardless of whether he is white, black, green or blue--it does not matter. While his privilege is an unfair leg-up, the amount of money he has does not change what he did. We all need to remember that regardless of his ethnicity/background, it does not change the fact that he raped someone. He committed a crime, and his punishment does not suit it one bit. I sincerely hope that the judge can be voted out of his seat in the court, because his sentencing shows nothing short of ignorance and a poor disregard for the facts.
The fact is: rape is not okay. The fact is that Brock Turner deserves to be in jail for years, not months. The fact is that this woman will not get that night back. The fact is that what happened on January 18, 2015 is not right. Maybe Brock Turner was a scholar athlete --but now, he is a rapist and deserves a punishment that fits justly so.
