If you’ve ever wondered why victims of sexual assault are reluctant to come forward to pursue justice, then this case will probably be all the depressing explanation you need.
Earlier this year, Brock Turner, a student at Stanford University, in California, was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault and sentenced to just six months in prison.
His female victim, who remains anonymous, was in court last week, and got to read out a letter about what she has been through. That letter, which was originally shared with BuzzFeed News, makes for truly shattering reading.
Brock Turner sexual assault case: Stanford victim's letter to Turner, judge https://t.co/xtuq6RZLyQ pic.twitter.com/DPJDvt31S7
— Mercury News (@mercnews) June 4, 2016
Now Turner’s father, Dan, is in the spotlight for a letter that he sent to the judge before his son’s sentencing, asking for leniency in his son’s punishment, and explaining how the crime has impacted on him. An especially controversial portion of the letter was posted on Twitter by Michele Dauber, a law professor at Stanford.
“That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life,” Turner writes.
https://twitter.com/mldauber/status/739320585222660096
The full letter can be read here.
In it, Mr Turner says his son “is absolutely devastated by the events” and that “in many one-on-one conversations with Brock since that day, I can tell you that he is truly sorry for what occurred that night and for all the pain and suffering that it has caused for all of those involved and impacted by that night.”
The part of the letter under focus reads:
“As it stands now, Brock’s life has been deeply altered forever by the events of Jan 17th and 18th. He will never be his happy go lucky self with that easy going personality and welcoming smile. His every waking minute is consumed with worry, anxiety, fear, and depression. You can see this in his face, the way he walks, his weakened voice, his lack of appetite. Brock always enjoyed certain types of food and is a very good cook himself. I was always excited to buy him a big ribeye steak to grill or to get his favorite snack for him. I had to make sure to hide some of my favorite pretzels or chips because I knew they wouldn’t be around long after Brock walked in from a long swim practice.
“Now he barely consumes any food and eats only to exist. These verdicts have broken and shattered him and our family in so many ways. His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve. That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life The fact that he now has to register as a sexual offender for the rest of his life forever alters where he can live, visit, work, and how he will be able to interact with people and organizations. What I know as his father is that incarceration is not the appropriate punishment for Brock.
“He has no prior criminal history and has never been violent to anyone including his actions on the night of Jan 17th 2015. Brock can do so many positive things as a contributor to society and is totally committed to educating other college age students about the dangers of alcohol consumption and sexual promiscuity. By having people. like Brock educate others on college campuses is how society can begin to break the cycle of binge drinking and its unfortunate results. Probation is the best answer for Brock in this situation and allows him to give back to society in a net’ positive way.”
The father’s letter has provoked an outraged response:
Shameful. His son raped a woman. Rape IS violence not "20 minutes of action". https://t.co/ldM1rmz5Z2
— Brie Larson (@brielarson) June 5, 2016
It's the utter lack of self awareness and context that makes Brock Turner's dad's statement so chilling. Purest dumb dad privilege
— John Hodgman (@hodgman) June 6, 2016
There might be a correlation between Brock Turner being a convicted rapist and his father describing rape as "20 minutes of action." MIGHT.
— John Scalzi (@scalzi) June 5, 2016
"20 minutes of bad action"?! So when one pulls a trigger and kills someone that's just "1 second of bad action"? https://t.co/raWTubqSoE
— Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata) June 5, 2016
https://twitter.com/elenacresci/status/739738646270644224
https://twitter.com/jessicaelgot/status/739704007678136321
https://twitter.com/lexi4prez/status/739680984665202688
https://twitter.com/clementine_ford/status/739710139540742144
The media is also being called out for its use of language in referring to Brock Turner:
https://twitter.com/KevBeirne/status/739733166039130112
If you haven’t read the actual victim’s astoundingly powerful letter, here’s the link for it again.
