Within the past week, the topic of discussion in the media has been the recent Stanford Rape Case. Brock Allen Turner, a student at Stanford University, raped an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. Turner left court with a sentence of six months in county jail, and three years of probation. Not only is the shortness of the sentence disturbing by itself, but also it's even more disturbing once noting that Turner was formally charged with "assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object, and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object".
The victim has published the letter she read to her attacker in court. The letter highlighted the emotional and physical trauma she suffered, as well as point out that the Judge's statement that Turner will face damage for years to come over being involved with this case and feels that is punishment enough is literally so crazy. I honestly can't believe that in 2016 we have a judge who is saying the perpetrator will suffer just as much, if not more than the victim. The victim had to wake up in a hospital with no recollection of how she got there, with pine needles embedded in her hair. She had to deal with the ongoing emotional trauma of the event as the court case proceeded.
Joe Biden recently published an open letter to the Stanford rape victim through Buzzfeed. I was a little surprised to see that someone so high up in politics had acknowledged the issue, as it seemed to be only citizens rallying behind the issue. It is incredibly important that Joe Biden has acknowledged the issue, and sided with the victim, as the Vice President does set some sort of precedent for how the rest of America should react. I am especially grateful that Biden took the time to say "We will speak to change the culture on our college campuses- a culture that continues to ask the wrong questions: What were your wearing? Why were you there? What did you say? How much did you have to drink? Instead of asking: Why did he think he had the license to rape?"
I know victims of sex crimes whose own mothers have asked them those questions, effectively victim blaming them and creating more emotional damage associated with the crime than there already was. So thank you, Joe Biden, for helping set the precedent that blaming the victim is wrong.
We need more people who are high up on the ladder of public influence to acknowledge this rape case as well as other highly controversial cases. The more these cases are recognized, and the more these injustices are called out, the more people will understand that the victim is not to blame in these situations.
1 in 4 women and 1 in 16 men will be sexually assaulted in college. Given these high rates, it is incredibly important that we validate each and every one of these victims’ emotions afterward. The decision to only have someone who is convicted of sex crimes go to jail for six months, and maybe even only three with good behavior, because it was ruled that the perpetrator is not a threat to others is absolutely insane. Of course, he's a threat to others; he raped an unconscious woman.
Furthermore, it is despicable that as the story made headlines, the articles kept mentioning the rapist's swim times. As if his athletic abilities were somehow going to make up for the fact that he violated someone in the cruelest of ways.
The Stanford rape case proves we need to make sure our officials do understand the consequences of victim blaming, and how important it is to punish criminals, regardless of their swimming times.
