Double standard is defined as a rule or principle that is unfairly applied in different ways to different people or groups. Throughout human existence, double standards are used everywhere. One specific area that double standards are used is in the court system.

Class-ism is defined as a biased or discriminatory attitude based on distinctions made between social or economic classes. Whether intentional or not, socioeconomic status has an extreme influence in the court room.

Recently, rapist Brock Turner has become a heated topic across the nation. Turner sexual assaulted his intoxicated, unconscious victim behind a dumpster on January 17^th during a party that they were both attending. Turner received an unbelievably short sentence of only six months in prison. The sentence also states that with good behavior, Turner will get out in three months, on probation.

Turner’s victim, a 23 year old women, wrote a letter for the courtroom that was directed to her rapist. The haunting words she wrote in the letter have left a huge impact on people all over the world.

“You don’t know me, but you’ve been inside of me, and that’s why we’re here today”, the victim stated in her letter to the court.

On Saturday, January 17^th, 2015, the victim had not originally planned to go out with her younger sister that was in town visiting. She planned to stay in bed and read a book. However, being her last night with her sister, she decided that she would go out and have fun.

“I had nothing better to do, so why not, there’s a dumb party ten minutes from my house. I would go, dance like a fool, and embarrass my younger sister”, she wrote.

The victim, like many other people attending the party, consumed alcohol. At the age of 23, she stated that she had not drank that much since college.

“I made silly faces, let my guard down and drank liquor too fast, not factoring in that my tolerance had significantly lowered since college,” she wrote.

Later that night, the victim woke up in a gurney. She was covered in blood, along with abrasions and bandages all over her body.

“I thought maybe I had fallen and was in an admin office on campus. I was very calm and wondering where my sister was. A deputy explained I had been assaulted. I still remained calm, assured he was speaking to the wrong person. I knew no one at this party,” she wrote.

She was right about one thing, she knew nobody at the party except her sister and her friends. However, this did not stop Turner from taking advantage of her intoxicated, unconscious body behind a dumpster that night. Turner admitted to not knowing the victim’s name and being unable to choose her out of a line-up.

Turner had no idea who the victim that he sexually assaulted was. She was one of the many people drinking at the party that night. However, she was the one that rapist Brock Turner took advantage of.

In the letter, the victim explains the detrimental effects that the rape has had on her everyday life.

“You cannot give me back the life I had before that night either. While you worry about your shattered reputation, I refrigerated spoons every night so when I woke up, and my eyes were puffy from crying, I would hold the spoons to my eyes to lessen the swelling so that I could see. I showed up an hour late to work every morning, excused myself to cry in the stairwells, I can tell you all the best places in that building to cry where no one can hear you. The pain became so bad that I had to explain the private details to my boss to let her know why I was leaving. I needed time because continuing day to day was not possible. I used my savings to go as far away as I could possibly be. I did not return to work full time as I knew I’d have to take weeks off in the future for the hearing and trial, that were constantly being rescheduled. My life was put on hold for over a year, my structure had collapsed.” The victim wrote.

The attack has not only impacted the victim’s ability to do daily tasks, but also affected her ability to sleep.

“I can't sleep alone at night without having a light on, like a five year old, because I have nightmares of being touched where I cannot wake up, I did this thing where I waited until the sun came up and I felt safe enough to sleep. For three months, I went to bed at six o'clock in the morning.”

She then went on to talk about how her independence that she used to have has vanished since the attack. The victim was left unable to do normal tasks without feeling that her boyfriend was protecting her.

“I have become a little barnacle always needing to be at someone's side, to have my boyfriend standing next to me, sleeping beside me, protecting me. It is embarrassing how feeble I feel, how timidly I move through life, always guarded, ready to defend myself, ready to be angry”, she wrote.

Brock Turner’s father wrote a letter to the judge talking about how Turner’s rape has poorly affected HIS own life.

“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 rapist’s father wrote.

The father also went along to mention how Brock’s life had changed since he sexually assaulted the young girl. He talked about his weakened voice and 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.”

Somehow, Dan Turner’s letter affected the judge’s decision when it came to sentencing his son. The rapist’s loss of appetite for rib-eye steak seemed to overshadow all of the victim’s statements in her letter.

According to CNN, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Persky said on Thursday that Turner's age and lack of criminal history made him feel that imposing a six-month jail sentence with probation was appropriate. Turner also has to register as a sex offender.

“My life was put on hold for over a year, my structure had collapsed”, she wrote.

The judge in charge of Turner’s case deemed that jail time would have a severe impact on the rapist.

“I think he will not be a danger to others”, Judge Persky stated.

CNN also stated that Turner, 20, was convicted in March of the intent to commit rape of an intoxicated/unconscious person, penetration of an intoxicated person and penetration of an unconscious person. He faced up to 14 years in prison but instead received six months in jail, with a promise of probation at three months with good behavior.

There are three general means of defense against being charged with the counts Turner received. These include receiving consent, reasonably believing you received consent or being falsely accused. The victim at the time was intoxicated, because of this alone, according to California law a person cannot give consent while intoxicated. This then immediately cancels out Turner’s chance to claim he thought he had consent from the victim. However, the fact that the victim was intoxicated did not stop him from claiming that she "liked it",

In the letter the victim mentioned that Turner thought that she wanted it because she had given him a back rub. In my opinion, if someone thinks that receiving a back rub equals that they are consenting to be penetrated with a foreign object while intoxicated.. they should not be accepted into Stanford University.

Lastly, two Canadians saw Turner with the half-naked girl behind the dumpster and tackled him. They then held him there until the police came. There is lots of proof, including witnesses that make the last form of defense impossible. Turner raped the unconscious women, there is no doubt in that. Turner is a rapist.

The two heroes were Carl-Fredrik Arndt and Peter Jonsson. If it were not for them stopping Turner and calling the police, who knows what else Turner would have done to the victim.

According to CNN, by the following Tuesday morning, more than 191,000 people had signed a Change.org petition to recall Persky, a possibility in California, where judges are elected.

"Judge Persky failed to see that the fact that Brock Turner is a white male star athlete at a prestigious university does not entitle him to leniency," the petition read.

The petition also mentioned that Judge Persky’s light sentence on Turner exemplifies that things like socioeconomic status can affect the court’s decision.

According to CNN the petition stated, "He also failed to send the message that sexual assault is against the law regardless of social class, race, gender or other factors. Please help rectify this travesty to justice".

Although it may be unintentional, class-ism and socioeconomic status is a major factor when it comes to determining the outcome in court.

Whether it be through the judges biased opinions or conditions like afluenza, how much money someone has can influence the court’s decision.

On June 15th, 2013 there was an incident involving a wealthy 16 year old that killed four people while drunk driving. His name was Ethan Couch. Couch’s case was dismissed by the court and Judge which decided to sentence Couch to 10 years of probation instead of the 20 year jail sentence he could have received.

The reason for this was because Couch’s defense attorney determined that Couch was suffering with something called afluenza. Afluenza is defined as a psychological malaise supposedly affecting wealthy young people, symptoms of which include a lack of motivation, feelings of guilt, and a sense of isolation.

His lawyers successfully argued he was intellectually 18 but had an emotional age of 12. Couch was essentially ‘too rich’ for punishment. He was able to walk away from the crash with only bruises, minor injuries and eventually, 10 years’ probation. Probation, in which he will later violate with his mother.

Couch’s terrible actions left four people dead and one boy completely paralyzed. His blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit for an adult and there were traces of Valium in his system when he lost control of his pickup truck and plowed into a group of people helping a woman whose car had stalled.

Another incident involving drunk driving also occurred in Texas. However, this case resulted in an extremely different outcome.

Arellano killed a pregnant mother and her unborn baby while drunk driving. Arellano received two counts; intoxicated manslaughter and intoxicated assault. Both counts were the same that Couch, the ‘afluenza teen’ had received.

Arellano lived a substantially different life as opposed to coddled, Ethan Couch. Arellano and his family illegally crossed the U.S. – Mexico border two years before the incident. He spoke little English and knew very little about the U.S. court system.

His case was sent to the adult court almost immediately. He was given two choices; the first was to accept a guilty plea and receive 20 years in prison with the chance of probation after 10 years, or have his trial sent to a jury with the possibility of receiving 50 years in prison. Arellano chose the guilty plea. He will be eligible for parole sometime next year.

“I knew it was serious. It had to happen this way so I could better myself. So I could think better,” Arellano stated.

On November 24^th, Arellano spoke to The Associated Press behind bars.

He stated that he had his first beer when he was 15 years old. He also mentioned that he had driven drunk a few times before and that his parents tried to stop him, but he did not listen.

“They talked to me way too many times”, Arellano stated. “But I just didn’t want to listen”.

Once released, he expects to be deported to Mexico, where he hopes to work on a ranch.

These cases highlight how socioeconomic status greatly affect the outcomes in court, even in the same state and dealing with the same charges.

Turner's terrible attack has not gone unnoticed by anyone. USA Swimming made statements about Turner's actions and even banned him for life.

The statement said, "Brock Turner is not a member of USA Swimming and, should he apply, he would not be eligible for membership. ... Had he been a member, he would be subject to the USA Swimming Code of Conduct. USA Swimming strictly prohibits and has zero tolerance for sexual misconduct, with firm Code of Conduct policies in place, and severe penalties, including a permanent ban of membership, for those who violate our Code of Conduct".

According to The Guardian, the letter from the former swimmer offers a close look at the many ways Turner has refused to even acknowledge that he assaulted the woman, despite the guilty verdicts, and has instead continued to place blame on a “party culture” of “drinking”.

The Guardian also stated that the prosecutor raised concerns about Turner’s hollow apology and his continued unwillingness to admit that he committed an assault – despite overwhelming evidence that the woman was unconscious – the judge said this should not count against him at sentencing.

“I take him at his word that subjectively that’s his version of his events,” Persky said. “I’m not convinced that his lack of complete acquiescence to the verdict should count against him.”

The statements made by the rapist and his family have exemplified today's idea of rape culture. Rape culture where the victim is the one blamed for the attack, and the rapist tries to be the victim.

Brock Turner, I directly address you now:

Your “20 minutes of action”, as your father poorly stated it, is now the only time anyone will ever think of when they hear Brock Turner. Forget your swim times because nobody cares about those.

Nobody cares that you somehow got into Stanford University. The fact that you believed a back rub meant consent and that she ‘wanted it’ shows your true lack of intelligence.

Do not worry, because when we cannot count on our own court system for justice, we can always count on the universe and a sweet little thing called karma.

“Karma comes after everyone eventually. You can’t get away with screwing people over your whole life, I don’t care who you are. What goes around comes around. That’s how it works. Sooner or later the universe will serve you the revenge that you deserve”, Jessica Brody, The Karma Club.

Good luck rapist, Brock Turner. Justice will be served sooner or later. There is no escaping it, and you cannot place the responsibility of your own terrible actions on others forever.

Once again, if it were not for heroes Carl-Fredrik Arndt and Peter Jonsson, who knows what would have happened to the victim. Thank you both for stopping the rapist and holding him until the police came.

I suggest all of my readers go to the website below:

Rapistbrockturner.com