The anticipation for Friday comes with the satisfaction of closing your laptop on a hard work week and piled up homework, kicking off your sneakers to slip on your nicer outfit, and dancing your tush off at Brick Street. We all love Fridays, hell there's restaurant professing the love for Fridays!
But this Friday is different. In just a few hours, Brock Turner will be released from prison....three months early.
Turner was arrested in 2014 after two male students who were biking saw him behind a dumpster sexually assaulted an unconscious female at Stanford University. The young woman remains unnamed, but she addressed Turner directly in her trial statement, confirming his crime. “You don’t know me, but you’ve been inside me, and that’s why we’re here today," she said. Not only that, but Turner went an extra step further and snapchatted the breasts of the victim to friends after attacking her, because raping her lifeless body wasn't degrading and disgusting enough.
Turner was originally charged with five felony counts: rape of an unconscious person, rape of an intoxicated person, sexual penetration by a foreign object of an unconscious woman, sexual penetration by foreign object of an intoxicated woman, and assault with the intent to commit rape.
From there a trial began, which you knew would happen based on the fact that beforehand he was released on $150,000 bail.
During the trial, Turner was convicted for three of the five charges, including: assault with the intent to commit rape of an intoxicated/unconscious person, penetration of an unconscious person, and penetration of an intoxicated person.
Now, before we get to the actual punishment Turner received, I'm going to leave this with you. The average jail time in the United States for a convicted rapist is between 8 and 9 years.
Turner himself could have been sentenced to up to 14 years in prison. However, Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky only sentenced him to six months. Though Persky announced, following Turner's case, that he will no longer going to oversee criminal trials, it's a bit to late to right the wrong of Turner's b.s. sentence.
So after only serving three months in prison of his six month sentence, as well as being generously moved to solitary confinement to avoid possible harm, Turner is being released this Friday.
This Friday a rapist will return to the street and Turner's victim will have to live in fear again. In fact, this Friday, all women who have ever been or will be violated and sexually assaulted will have to live in fear again.
There are Brock Turners all around us. The kid sitting next to you in class, your friend's cousin, or your boss could be just like Turner. Only difference between him and Turner, is that there aren't always bicyclists nearby to save all sexual assaultvictims. Only 344 out of every 1,000 sexual assault cases are reported to the police. Turner's early release is so much more than what meets the eye. He was one of the rare ones that was caught, proven, and convicted, yet he got off basically scot-free. Turner represents the lack of justice sexual assault victims receive throughout the entire United States.
So this Friday, Turner will return to his home early. He will eventually get a job and his case will become less and less known. Turner will then look forward to his Fridays like we do, where he closes his laptop and has parties he will attend. Who knows? Maybe he will rape someone else, but won't get caught next time. Turner lived in a short horror story while spending three months in prison, but his victim will live in one forever.
