That’s the only positive spin I can put on the awful story of Brock Turner. For those who’ve missed out on the outrage, Brock Turner was a Stanford athlete who found a drunk woman passed out behind a dumpster, and he proceeded to do what any privileged male asshole would do: he raped her. He was caught in the act however, and tried to run away, and was put on trial.
Awful enough so far. But then once he was convicted, the judge decided to give him a light 6 month sentence, because prison would have a severe impact on him
. Yes? Isn’t that the point? Of course, the judge, Aaron Persky, was also a former Stanford athlete, so this is clearly a case of a judge seeing someone who looks like him, so he must be a good boy…
So injustice is compounded. But then, just to make me truly sick to my stomach, Turner’s father made a statement. This is why I say fathers matter — because Dan A. Turner is an oblivious asshole who raised an asshole. This is appalling.
A rape is 20 minutes of action
? Twenty minutes represents a prolonged, persistent assault. Please, the fact that he’s lost his appetite for steak and pretzels does not impress me. And it should not be the verdicts that have broken and shattered
him and his family, it’s that your son is a goddamn rapist. Got that, Dan A. Turner? You raised a boy with so little respect for other human beings that instead of helping a person who was unconscious, he attacked her. Given what Turner has written, that’s no surprise. Maybe the Turner family needs a good shattering.
I’m also thinking that we don’t scale punishments by how long the crime takes to perpetrate. You can murder someone with a gun in a fraction of a second, so that means that kind of crime warrants what, a half-hour in prison?
The victim of this assault wrote her own statement. She indicts the media, where she learned the details:
And then, at the bottom of the article, after I learned about the graphic details of my own sexual assault, the article listed his swimming times. She was found breathing, unresponsive with her underwear six inches away from her bare stomach curled in fetal position. By the way, he’s really good at swimming. Throw in my mile time if that’s what we’re doing. I’m good at cooking, put that in there, I think the end is where you list your extracurriculars to cancel out all the sickening things that’ve happened.
She indicts the justice system:
I was pummeled with narrowed, pointed questions that dissected my personal life, love life, past life, family life, inane questions, accumulating trivial details to try and find an excuse for this guy who had me half naked before even bothering to ask for my name. After a physical assault, I was assaulted with questions designed to attack me, to say see, her facts don’t line up, she’s out of her mind, she’s practically an alcoholic, she probably wanted to hook up, he’s like an athlete right, they were both drunk, whatever, the hospital stuff she remembers is after the fact, why take it into account, Brock has a lot at stake so he’s having a really hard time right now.
And she really lets Brock Turner have it, at length.
Try contrasting it with Dan Turner’s statement. The two Turners ought to be curled up in shame.
As for the judge — there are multiple petitions to have Aaron Persky removed from the bench for undeniable bias. I don’t think petitions like this can accomplish much, but at least it sends a signal that his decision in this case was unjust.
But… but… he grills big ribeye steaks!!!
Although the judge raises an interesting point: jail should not have “a severe impact” on anyone, at least not a negative one. What’s the point of punishing crime by jail if jail makes people worse? So Americans, fix your jail system so that you can safely lock away the assholes without having to have second thoughts about it!
Contrast the Turners’ actions with that of the two bicyclists who saw what was happening, realized the woman was not responding and intervened (which included one of them tackling Turner junior when he ran and both restraining him until the cops got there).
I wonder how many people the judge has sent to prison for longer on minor drug charges.
http://www.theonion.com/video/college-basketball-star-heroically-overcomes-tragi-19097
The Onion is not even fun anymore. =(
Clearly his son is the victim here. I mean, it was only 20 minutes for the woman as well, right? She must be over it by now. Alcohol made his son the victim! Yes, blame the alcohol!
Not a single word about the woman that was raped. What a piece of shit.
Just imagine what it’s like to land in jail for 10 days because of a psychotic episode. The person I’m thinking of should have been taken straight to the hospital and put under treatment…that was obvious to everyone: cops, bailiffs, DA, public defender, and the judge. Instead, he went to jail and was charged. It took many days and thousands of dollars to extricate him from jail, and then they almost just let him walk without going to a hospital at all. Our criminal justice system is really screwed up when it treats the truly sick like criminals, and lets the truly criminal off with a slap on the wrist.
“Brock…has never been violent to anyone including on the night of…” the rape for which he has just been convicted. Ye gods.
@6, robro
It gets worse when you bring ID into the mix. In Iowa, where I live and work, it is almost impossible to involuntarily commit someone with an ID diagnosis, regardless of other disability. So, for example, one of the gentlemen I worked with who was in the middle of a prolonged psychotic break, making regular attempts on his life and regular physical and sexual assaults of his housemates and assistant staff would not be accepted for committal by a judge due to his ID, the hospital wouldn’t hold him without the judge’s order, and he would not voluntarily commit himself, the only recourse was to bring in the police. In some places it’s almost designed to be like that. Incidentally, Iowa privatized their entire Medicaid program, which is what pays for the bulk of psychiatric services in the state…there are a lot of cutbacks here across the board in social services for the disabled, the eventual end result will be more people with profound mental illness on the streets, which will mean web more people with profound mental illness end up in the prison system.
This thing is so revolting it is even talked about in Dutch-language newspapers.
If politicians are so “tough on crime”, one has to wonder why there’s no mandatory minimum for convicted rapists.
As per usual, when the US corporate media post pictures of a white criminal’s face, none of the pictures are his mugshot. In the case of the rapist, they’re all pictures from his swim team or yearbook. But if the victim of a crime were black, you can be sure that a mugshot (if there is one) will be the picture used.
And now it’s more than just his father:
Brock Turner’s Childhood Friend Blames His Rape Conviction on Political Correctness
Logic fail.
It’s PC to accuse convicted rapists of rape? Or only if they’re wealthy white athletes?
Incidentally, before becoming a Superior Court judge, Persky worked in the Santa Clara County DA’s office. In his archived bio on the League of Women Voters website, he says:
From Turner’s letter:
Yeah, because that’s the problem. It was the alcohol. It was the “promiscuity”. Because either Brock was promiscuous, or the woman’s sex life (which I know nothing and need to know nothing about) had something to do with her being passed out. It couldn’t possibly be that Brock lacks a combination of impulse control and respect for other people’s bodily autonomy.
Well, duh. It’s politically correct to hold wealthy white athletes responsible for anything they do.
(From Kreator’s quoted article in #11)
I think I’m ten times more likely to have a stroke after reading that.
The victim’s letter is heart breaking and it could be triggering to some people, but it’s worth a read. A couple of excerpts can’t really do it justice, so I would advise everyone to read the whole letter.
I feel sick. What a staggering bunch of assholes – the rapist, the rapist’s father and the pathetic excuse for a judge.
The survivor’s letter was heartbreaking and so, so strong.
Wow, what the fuck.
I want to second Beatrice @17. The victim’s letter is very long, but extremely important.
Also, I agree that petitions to remove the judge probably won’t do much good, but I’ve also seen activists post that he is up for reelection this year. I hope awareness spreads far and wide among his constituents.
Yup, entitled (rich white) privilege. He did what he was raised to do: Seize the opportunity (?!), and if it means seeing people as objects to be used, then that’s what has to be done.
I read the victim’s letter, she got a life sentence, he got a slap on the wrist.
I also read about the high school All-American football player, Brian Banks, who is black, who also had no prior criminal history and was sentenced to 6 years on what was a false accusation of rape. Funny that the all-white jury and judge didn’t seem to worry about the affect on his life.
Seems like the post-racial society is humming along smoothly with equality for all.
I agree, her statement was amazing. PZ didn’t mention it, but when she read her statement to the court, she turned and faced Turner and addressed him personally.
Turner was also drinking, fine. Imagine a different outcome that night. Say one of his frat party bros had instead raped an unconscious Turner, “for only 20 minutes.” I’m sure Turner would have just shrugged it off as carelessness on his part to have been drinking that night and moved on after learning an important lesson.
The rape is everyone’s fault except the poor rapist. Look how miserable he is, his life is ruined! He was a swimmer at a top university!
The victim is only worth knowing as “unconscious intoxicated woman”. Her sole role in her own rape is to potentially ruin a man’s life for which she must be subject to intense interrogation and further humiliation.
Rape culture? Nope, not seeing it…
But haven’t we been told, again and again and again, that it can only be rape if it is reported to the police?
Oh, this one was. Then I guess it was rape.
And haven’t we been told, again and again and again, that there is no rape culture? That women have all the power? And that even and insinuation that a man may have behaved improperly will destroy his life and send him to prison for ever?
Gaaaah! The deck is still not only stacked against the survivor, but the dealer is best buddies with the rapists AND is using a marked deck.
If one of our kids committed a rape, I hope my reaction would be, “What did we do wrong? How could we raise a person who could commit such an act?” And yeah, I’d probably still love them and feel sorry for them, but in no way would I try to excuse or minimize what they did.
And I’ll second or third or whatever the power of the woman’s statement. Read it if you can stomach it.
@Beatrice:
I need a break after getting about halfway through her statement. It made me so angry and sad. The son is an asshole, the father too, his lawyers, the judge, all of them are just a bunch of fucking assholes.
Persky went to Stanford and therefore […].
Curiel has Mexican heritage and therefore […].
You need to watch how you frame “reasonable apprehension of bias” arguments.
Wrongfully imprisoned black football player reacts to white swimmer’s lenient rape sentence.
Somebody on Twitter rightly noticed that apparently women have a history (what was she wearing, what was she drinking, had she had sex before?) while men have potential (what could he do, his college career, promising athlete)
Fuck those people.
Fuck Brock Turner, fuck his dad, fuck the judge, fuck his childhood friend.
I’ll spend a thought on how the thing he chose to do impacted poor Brock Turner when I’m done caring about all the men, women, non-binary people and children who have been raped. Guess that won’t happen in my or his lifetime.
In a stunning lack of self-awareness, Dan “Asshole” Turner wrote that his son “has never been violent to anyone including on the night of Jan. 17”
Srsly?
The victim described her ordeal in the hospital being treated to cuts, abrasions, scrapes, bruises; being cleaned of dirt, “fauna and flora” and other trash. Lovely environment behind dumpsters. We should all have a chance to lie down behind a dumpster, naked, while a stranger bounces on top of us.
Not violent? I wonder what constitutes “violent” in the Turner World? On second thought, never mind.
Absolutely sickening.
@Matrim #8:
This is exactly what has happened in the UK since the idea of ‘Care in the Community’ came about in the late 1980s. Most of the old mental hospitals were closed down, and at heart this was done with good reason since all too many people had ended up being institutionalised. However, far too few community care places for the affected people were correspondingly funded (this is the not-at-heart aspect of the government of the day, and of goverments since), with the result that more people ended up on the streets and more people ultimately ended up in prison. It is now estimated that one third of the current prison population has mental health issues, and clearly should not be there. The subsequent additional pressure upon the prison service, not to mention other funding cuts since, means that the suicide rate and the recidivism rate has risen. The introduction of privately-run prisons in the last 20 years has led to even more reduced remedial services, because it’s more expensive to have a prison officer escort a prisoner to their remedial class once a day than it is to leave the prisoner in their cell for 23 hours a day with an X-box and a television for company.
Thank you, privatisation fans. Thank you, short-term headline politicians. You have truly made our country a greater place.
Giliell, #28
I just want to say that reads like beautiful music. Bravo! Encore!
Thank you, Doc Bill @29, that is exactly what I wanted to point out. I told my wife that she ought to read the victim’s statement, but she doesn’t think she could stomach it.
Ah gee, I knew I should have taken those tiny violin lessons. /s
Thought you might be intersted in this: Ashley Banfield of CNN does something very valuable and commendable as she places the rape survivor’s words on a national stage.
*interested
*Ashleigh
Also, yeah, despite some cuts in the letter, the above video might still be problematic for some. Hell, I just caught myself hissing “fuck” at the screen in response to one of the middle sections.
One point not mentioned above, that may be in the letter itself, is still worth repeating. Apparently, part of the defense against the rape charge was that she never objected to the “assault” during the assault itself. Somehow arguing that rape is not defined merely by ‘lack of consent’, but actually requires active, verbal, opposition. So fondling a women who is already passed out from inebriation is ‘fair game’ and can never call rape ex-post-facto.
The father-douche also seems to think being A Rapist requires a full time dedication. That his son only ‘dabbled’ and is therefore not a rapist, and should not be given a rapist sentence (no matter how minimal ).
The judge himself, total hypocrite trying to masquerade as “concerned feminist”. Imposing the smallest possible sentence from a soundly convicted rapist, that had the entire University and the two graduate student samaritans, supporting the allegation. Not just her sole accusation.
Providing support for the concept that the culture deserves the moniker “rape culture”. Meaning there is an inherent bias in the members of this culture in relation to the crime of sexual assault.
Those two sweedes are better men than me.
Not that I wouldn’t have stopped the rape in progress, just that I probably couldn’t restrain myself from beating the little fuck into a coma and getting a far longer prison sentence than 6mo+probation.
Here’s Lucretia Madden Pruitt turning it around to what a decent person would say.
Here’s a screenshot for those who don’t use Facebook.
This is why I don’t believe in “unconditional love.” You rape somebody, you lose my love. And respect. And support.
Dan appears to believe that Brock was a virgin before January 17.
.
for the love of all that is wholy
screechymonkey
If I had an offspring who did such a thing, I would be spending a lot of time trying to figure out how I, as a parent, fucked up so very badly.
I’d probably still offer support because guilt.
I would support a child of mine who committed a rape like this. however, the support I would give is emotional support, support in going to the police and confessing, support in assisting him or her through their prison sentence in any way I can.
I would not hire a high powered attorney and private investigators to demean this person who they had assaulted. I would not defend him as being damaged in a worse way than the person who was raped.
Even after the victim’s statement, I still cannot fathom what she has gone through. The fact that anyone can defend his actions as a one-time thing is sickening. I did not understand rape culture at a previous time in my life, but it sickens me now.
Saad, #32:
What Saad and Giliell said!
Question: Does anyone actually believe that this was the first time he did this?
I mean, 20 minutes spent actively assaulting another human being is a long time. It’s indicative of a complete dehumanization of the victim. That’s not the kind of thing that happens overnight. You don’t just wake up one morning and decide to become a rapist. You grow into it, with the support of parents, friends and authorities, who teach you that some people aren’t deserving of basic human dignity.
This is what rape culture looks like.
Just a minor note PZ, he didn’t ‘find’ an unconscious woman behind a dumpster and rape her – he met her at a party with her sister, targeted her, separated her, took her to that dumpster, knocked her down and then raped her – while also fleeing when the two Swedes intervened, only to ‘recall’ that everything was consensual a year later into the trial phase.
Either situation is predatory but reading the full case leads me to suspect that he had a plan, there was premeditation there, he knew exactly who to single out at the party and how to get her out of that environment and into a secluded place.
The feminist struggle is over in the west, false rape accusations, the justice system is biased against men, blah blah blah. [/MRAsshole]
@46 LykeX Nope, I don’t believe it’s a first. Most girls I knew in high school (that period he just left right?) had been sexually assaulted or molested by classmates by age 18. For some, like my sister, it happened multiple times by many different boys. And it wasn’t just athletes either, though the school athletes were more likely to have such an entitled attitude.
So no, I have no doubt he’s done something similar before. But if my sister and other women’s accounts are considered, he was not reported, his victims were not believed, or they were told to just “avoid him and keep quiet” because he was special and they were not.
Rape culture creates it, parents and often teachers fostered it.
http://mimesislaw.com/fault-lines/brock-turner-the-sort-of-defendant-who-is-spared-severe-impact/10288
From Ken White.
RE: Turner Sr.: I have no words strong enough to express my contempt for this person; he failed as a parent, most egregiously, and his reaction is to divert responsibility elsewhere. (Don’t even want to think about Turner Jr. right now)
What I think the (human) world really needs to do is, to set everyone’s ability to procreate to *Off* by default; you only get to breed after taking and passing a basic test. One of the questions would be “Do you agree that rape is a really, really horrible crime? Y/N.”
(I think it would be safe to require that everybody get 100% on that one. )
It would require some clarifying questions, to make sure they know what rape is. People can easily find some asinine justification why this particular rape isn’t rape rape. If they really want to.
The correct phrase is “legitimate” rape.
Daddy has started a web page to solicit money to pay for junior’s legal bills.
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/06/stanford-rapists-dad-set-up-website-asking-supporters-to-pay-sex-offender-sons-legal-fees/
A few brief thoughts :
First, “Daddy” Turner should be ridden out of town on a rail. Sorry “Daddy” but your son raped a woman. Full Stop. Rape is always an act of violence. Someone who is drunk, or has imbibed enough that they’re slurring their speech, rambling, unsteady on their feet or unconscious cannot consent to sex. This is so blatantly obvious and logical that you couldn’t possibly think otherwise.
Second : Brock. A part of me — a violent atavistic part — wants to see you beaten and raped. Or better yet, tooled, you miserable little shit. But the better part of me knows that such acts are not in fact justice, they are merely revenge. That in the civilized society I would like us to have, revenge is not done, but justice is meted out by a trial by jury before an unbiased Judge, followed (if found guilty) by a reasonable term of imprisonment, with restitution to the victim and some hope of reform for the guilty. Your sentence, Brock, was not and is not reasonable or just. Then we come to the reaction of the public. I had one MRA type tell me that There is no Rape Culture. That women all want to be damsels in distress, because they’re taught to be Jane, Snow White, The Purty Schoolmarm or Pauline in Peril. He also asserts that men deserve to have a defense and that not being able to blame the victim is robbing them of that defense. To which I say pure unadulterated horse shit.