Why student Stanford convicted of rape for six months
Despite the seemingly obvious distribution of guilt in any case of sexual violence (the rapist is guilty, not the victim, no matter how she behaves), this topic still causes a mixed reaction in society and is problematic for representatives of the law. The history of the former freshman Stanford, which in the last few days has been actively discussed by the media and users of social networks, is proof of this.
On June 2, the court handed down a verdict in the rape case, the defendant of which is Stanford University student Brock Turner. The young man who raped a girl who was unconscious due to alcohol intoxication, was sentenced to six months in prison on probation and entered into a public register of sex offenders.
Due to the nature of California law, which implies that a victim of violence must resist or somehow express his disagreement, Turner was not charged with rape itself, which, according to state laws, is punishable by restriction of liberty to 14 years. He was convicted of attempted rape of a person in a deliberately helpless state, in contact with a person in a known helpless state and in contact with a person in a drunken state with the use of foreign objects. Although the jury unanimously found the young man guilty, and the prosecution demanded 6 years of imprisonment, Judge Aaaron Persky decided that Turner had already suffered enough from the media attention and after six months in prison he was aware of everything and would not be dangerous for society.
Turner's father wrote a letter in which he stated that his son was punished enough anyway: "The life he dreamed of and for which he worked so hard is now impossible [the young man was expelled from Stanford and deprived of the opportunity to build a sports career - Brock planned to participate in Swimming Olympiad.] This is a big price tag for activities that took just 20 minutes out of 20 years of his life. " Also, the man stressed that the young man was depressed, fell out of love with the dishes that he liked before, and lost all his vitality.
A letter from Father Turner, in which there is no line about what injury his son did to the victim, as well as the letter from her childhood friend accused, who said that drunk students are not “real rapists”, caused a wave of protests in the media and social networks. Publicist John Pavlovich published a response open letter entitled "Brock Turner's father from another father", in which he indicated that the position of the elder Turner about his son’s crime is evidence of a culture of violence that justifies the aggressors and shifts the blame to the victims who allegedly provoke rapists.
More than 220 thousand people who considered the sentence too lenient, including Stanford law professor Michel Dauber, signed a petition demanding that Aaron Persky be removed from office as a judge. “Judge Perski disagrees that Brock Turner cannot count on leniency only because he is a white man and a budding athlete at a prestigious university. He also could not send a powerful message that sexual abuse is illegal. from social class, race, gender and other factors, "said the statement. According to Jezebel, if the verdict is not changed, Turner will be in prison less than 97% accused of sexual abuse.
But there is also a main argument in favor of toughening punishment and revising legislation on sexual offenses. This is an open letter to the girl who survived the violence (she appears in the press under a pseudonym), in which she describes not only the humiliating details of the incident that she learned about in the hospital the next day and later from the media, but also how Turner’s lawyers tried give up his testimony and put the blame on her for what happened.
"The night after everything happened, he said that he thought I liked it because I then rubbed his back. Once again, from the news, I found out that my ass and vagina were completely naked, my breasts were grabbed, my fingers were thrust into me, along with pine needles and small debris, my bare skin and head rubbed on the ground next to the garbage, while an excited first-year student fucked my half-naked body, unconscious. But I don’t remember that I didn't like it. " She also indicated that, using her anonymity, she could speak on behalf of all women who had ever been subjected to violence and could not get a fair punishment for the aggressor.
She turned to Turner in court with the following words: “You have taken away all my dignity from me, my right to privacy, my energy, my self-confidence, my own voice, but this is all up to today. Damage has already been caused, no one will be able to return everything to its original place. And now we both have a choice. We can let it destroy us, I can withdraw from my anger and pain, you can continue to deny everything, or we can accept that this has happened, I will find a way to accept with your pain, you will be punished and life will continue I'm on. " She also thanked the graduate students who reported the rape to the police and helped to detain Turner, and said that the idea that there are positive heroes in the story also helps her a lot.
Brock Turner with his mother before the court session