In case you missed it, the Stanford rapist, Brock Turner, who was accused and convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster was only given a six-month sentence for his absolutely heinous crime. That alone felt like a punch to the gut to people, namely women, across the country. He was given the short sentence because the judge said, “A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him. I think he will not be a danger to others,” as though his actions didn’t have a severe impact on the victim.
The whole situation was clearly revolting to begin with. But unfortunately that’s not even the worst of it. As if the initially light sentence wasn’t enough, Turner was let out on September 2nd, 2016 after serving only three months of his already short six-month sentence. They called it “good behavior” but let’s start calling it for what it really is, shall we? Because this isn’t the only rape case to end in this fashion. The reason these men, these rapists are slipping through the legal system with little to no punishment for their actions is because of their white male privilege.
Take the case of David Becker, for instance. He was accused of sexually assaulting two women while they were asleep. He apologized to one of the women the day following the rape, thereby admitting his own guilt in the situation. And yet, somehow, he still gets to walk away from all of this without having to spend one single second in prison. Not only that, but Becker won’t even have to be put on the sex offender registry. He raped two unconscious women and yet somehow he is able to walk away from it all with nothing but a two-year probation, and a promise to stay away from drugs, alcohol, and the women that he raped. Thomas Rooke, Becker’s attorney, was pleased with the outcome because, “We all made mistakes when we were 17, 18, 19 years old, and we shouldn't be branded for life with a felony offense and branded a sex offender.” He also states that, “The goal of this sentence was not to impede this individual from graduating high school and to go onto the next step of his life, which is a college experience.” I guess in Rooke's eyes, assaulting and psychologically damaging two women is "just a mistake" and it should be treated as such. Because why would we ever want to negatively affect the future education of a rapist?
It’s bad enough that there are rapists out there like Becker and Turner, but what’s even worse is that we live in a society that tries to alleviate them of the blame for their actions because they’re white athletes from affluent families. People everywhere have their lives ruined over a bag of marijuana that they had for their own personal enjoyment but these men get to walk free after ruining the mental states and futures of these young women? And there are people okay with that because they don’t want to, “ruin their college experiences”? What about the college experiences of the women that they assaulted? Where’s their justice, their help? Who is out there trying to reconcile their futures so that they can lead normal lives again?
This reaches farther than sleazy attorneys and morally deprived judges. This is a societal problem. These boys walked free, and they won’t be the last. These aren’t isolated incidents.
Let me repeat that one more time for the people in the back: These aren’t isolated incidents.
Girls everywhere are sent off to college being told a set of rules and tips to help prevent them from being raped. As someone who was given a very similar spiel before I started college three years ago, let me tell you, it’s not a good feeling. I shouldn’t have to try and control the actions of those that are around me. We shouldn’t be made to feel as though rape is our fault. And on top of all that, when the worst happens, the women whose lives have been changed forever shouldn’t have to see their rapists walk free. They shouldn’t have to watch the men who violated them suffer little-to-no consequence for the atrocious crime that they committed.
I’m sick of seeing rich white men get away with rape because of their skin tone and their bank account. I’m tired of having to talk about why it’s an issue because it shouldn’t be a debate. I shouldn’t have to sit here and type out why it is wrong for rapists like Becker and Turner to not have to pay for their actions. Education level, athletic involvement, the size of their trust fund--none of this should matter. They committed a crime. A terrible, disgusting crime that changed the lives of women forever, and it should be taken seriously.
Stop letting rapists walk free because you think that it will be the only time that they rape someone. Since when does the legal system grant pardon because it’s possible that the criminal might not be a repeat offender? Stop letting rapists walk free because you don’t want to impede their future plans or education. They didn’t care about the futures of the women that they raped so why should be give these criminals any shred of sympathy?
Stop letting rapists walk free.
