Brock Turner Rape Case Study

On January 18th, 2015, 20 year old Brock Turner, former Stanford swimmer, was arrested on five charges of rape, for raping an unconscious female after a party behind a dumpster. When police arrived they found Turner pinned down by two Swedish graduate students, Carl-Fredrik Arndt and Peter Jonsson. After his trial in March of 2016 was convicted of three cases of sexual assault . These charge have a maximum 14 year sentence, however, Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Turner to six months in prison and three years of probation, however, new reports suggest that Turner could be released after serving half of his sentence. Judge Persky's “lenient” sentencing has sparked national and international rage, from Congressman Ted Poe calling the sentence ‘pathetic’ while speaking to the House of Representative, to 1.1 million signing the change.org petition to “Remove Judge Aaron Persky from the Bench For Decision in Brock Turner rape case.”. The outcry that this case has sparked has been unprecedented,

Turner’s ‘20 minutes of action’ was rape. That is not something to take lightly. Turner is not the victim here. Turner sexually assaulted a woman, lied about his experience with drugs and alcohol, and possibly shared a photo of the victim's breasts, but his six months (although really three month) sentencing is too much for the rapist? I understand Turner’s father loves his son dearly, but showing no remorse, no apology to the victim or family is disgusting. His son is nowhere near the maximum sentencing, and pleading for a lighter sentence is almost disrespectful to the victim and all rape victims. Initially Turner’s case was just another example of how rape is not taken seriously in the U.S. judicial system, however, the outcry that came with it, especially after his father’s letter, has the potential to show that rapist will be punished as they should