Last week, former Stanford swim star Brock Turner was convicted guilty for raping an unconscious girl, only to be given a lenient sentence of six months- three if he is on his best behavior. As an attempt for sympathy, family and friends of Brock Turner wrote letters attempting to humanize him to the judge. His father wrote about his favorite snacks and contagious smile that he was known for. His childhood friend wrote of many fond memories she also had. She recounted that growing up Brock had always been polite and respectful towards women. Both urged that this was probably a huge misunderstanding, because they know him to be an exceptional human being.

I do not doubt that for the most part Brock Turner was a good guy. I imagine he probably used to hold the door open for girls and elders. He was probably the funny one in high school that all of the girls viewed as a good friend and all of the guys liked to joke around with. The problem is, none of that is relevant when discussing the fact that he made the decision to rape an unconscious woman.

The only people that really know what happened that night are those that were around. Perhaps they both had too much to drink, but being drunk is not ever an excuse for harming another person. Alcohol does not turn us into people we aren’t, but allows us to more bravely be ourselves. It helps give shy people courage, and it helps guys who seem nice at the surface have the chance to take advantage of girls that trust them. I can still distinctly remember the night a guy I trusted tried forcing himself on me after I had a few glasses of wine in me. My favorite part about it was how well he pretended it never actually happened the next day and weeks following. Nobody would have guessed he would have done that, after all he was a big teddy bear.

I think we all tend to forget that people deemed criminals today did not start off as criminals. I can't picture anyone waking up and thinking, “today I’m going to see how big of a crime I can get away with just for the hell of it”. I doubt Brock Turner planned on going to a party that night and raping a girl, but the problem is that he did. He had the choice to either help a drunk girl get home safely or to violate her when she was at her most vulnerable point. There is still this major stigma going around that rapists are people that hide in the shadows at night and prey on the weak. People like to believe that rapists aren’t our friends that we grew up with. Rapists aren’t star athletes, religious leaders, or trusted friends. Brock Turner’s friend herself attempted to make that point in her letter. She claims that perhaps the two had a little too much to drink and both made bad decisions.

The way Brock Turner’s friends and family are defending him are important, considering that is exactly why he was given a lenient sentence. Sure you can also blame white male privilege seeing that it does have a lot to do with this whole situation, but that isn’t the only reason he was let off with a slap on the wrist. It is because of the people that believe that sweet, innocent people cannot commit unspeakable acts. Even after the fact, the judge does not believe that Brock Turner will commit the crime again. News flash guys: everyone is capable of doing things they never thought possible. The important thing to take away from this whole situation is to remember that even the swim stars of Ivy League schools are in fact human. Humans make mistakes, it’s in our nature. You are never going to know the true character of another person. The best that we as a society can do is raise our children to grow up respecting the boundaries of others. I have faith that we are growing as a society due to the amount of outrage shown this past week, and that we can only go forward from here.