994 rape perpetrators out of 1000 will walk free.

-RAINN

Brock Turner. Phillip Garrido. Debra Lafave. Jameis Winston. These are a few notorious names that have committed sexual assault and received little to no punishment for their crimes. While sex offenders' reputations are drastically changed, it doesn't erase the scars of their victims. No amount of jail time will ever compare to the life sentences their victims have to live with.

According to a report conducted by The Washington State Institute for Public Policy, “The average length of stay in prison is 60 months for offenders convicted of sex crimes against adults, 44 months for offenders convicted of sex crimes against children, and 33 months for all other sex offenders.”

-Instant Checkmate

We all know what happened with Brock Turner. If you need a refresher, Turner was a college student that raped an unconscious girl and only received six months in prison (he only served three) because being in prison for a long time would "ruin his reputation" and would "traumatize" him. I'm sure his victim, again she was unconscious, is traumatized and has a different reputation from the ordeal.

This sentencing made me sick. With all the evidence collected from the assault, as well as witnesses that intervened, it's obvious Turner did it, yet he was given a slap on the wrist and only got to serve half of his lenient sentence.

Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped and held against her will for 18 years. Her abductor? Phillip Garrido, a sex offender on parole that once served time for a violent rape. In 1976, Garrido kidnapped a woman and raped her. He was given 50 years in prison. Shockingly, he was released after only serving eleven years, not even a quarter into the 50 years. Needless to say, Garrido struck again, this time kidnapping the eleven year old girl, raping her repeatedly, impregnating her twice, stealing her entire life.

It gets worse. During these 18 years, Garrido was supposedly being monitored by a parole officer. In fact, he was visited by a parole officer over 60 times, and not once during the visits was Jaycee discovered. Neighbors complained to the police that Jaycee and her children were seen in Garrido's backyard, to no resolution occurring. After Jaycee was discovered, the California parole board admitted mistakes were made. Garrido is now serving 431 years to life. The State of California awarded Jaycee Dugard a $20 million settlement for their system failures. Though $20 million sounds lovely to the rest of us, there's not one cent in the world that can give Jaycee's life back to her. None of this would've happened if Garrido stayed in prison and served his time.

My abuser took a plea deal to serve 18 months in state prison and would have to be a lifetime sex offender registrant. He only served 14 months (he was released for good behavior) and would be on strict probation. I was told by the district attorney if my abuser ever violated the terms of his parole, he would go back to prison for nine years.

He broke the terms of his parole, being caught with internet and marijuana, and was sent back to prison. However, instead of serving the nine years, he only served eight months (he started serving in November 2013 and was released in July 2014). Nobody in the system contacted me about his arrest. How did I find out? A family member who lived nearby that witnessed his arrest. I was only contacted a month before his release, a letter from victims' rights. At least the Victims' Rights cared.

To this day, I still feel robbed of justice and feel like my perpetrator got more coddling than I did. He gets to walk the streets, interact with people (except children under the age of 16, but it's likely he has already), and has shown no remorse for what he's done to me. He also gets to be a landlord for a trailer park, where he rents to young single mothers with young kids. Also, the trailer park is less than 500 feet away from a high school. It's only a matter of time before he hurts someone else, especially with his resources.

We need to have stricter prison sentences for those found guilty of sexual violence. Three years should be the minimum, no less. They shouldn't be allowed early release for "good behavior" or for being a "model prisoner". Anytime a sex offender on parole breaks their probation, they need to be punished to the full extent of the law. If they live near children/schools/playgrounds, they need to move away from those areas, lower the risk of relapsing as much as possible. If we want to prevent tragedies before they happen, we need to asses risks, use common sense, and stop coddling the sex offenders. They broke the law, they're dangerous people, they gave up their rights, they shouldn't be given special treatment.