Brock Turner was released from jail this morning. After only serving 3 months of his 6 month sentence. Even though the prosecutor recommended 6 years, Judge Persky was too concerned with this rapist’s future to give him more time. It’s rape culture at work.
Two transgender women made American political history yesterday when voters in Utah and Colorado elected them to run for spots in Congress next fall. The women — Misty K. Snow and Misty Plowright (yes, they’re both named Misty) — will represent the Democratic party against tea-party Senator Mike Lee and Representative Doug Lamborn, respectively.
Both candidates won by wide margins — Snow beat her opponent by almost 20 points, and Plowright won more than 13,000 votes while her rival received about 9,600. According to Politico, both candidates face “uphill battles” for their respective congressional seats, as Plowright’s district in Colorado is one of the most conservative in the state, and Utah is, well, Utah.
There are a lot of things that could have a “severe impact” on a person. Being sexually assaulted by a stranger while intoxicated and/or unconscious is one of them. So is waking up in a hospital to find your underwear missing, before being told by doctors a man you don’t know sexually assaulted you behind a dumpster. So is being forced to confront your assailant in court.
Another thing that could really have a “severe impact” on a person is telling them the man who raped them is not responsible for committing an act of violence. That is exactly what you and the justice system have done.
Your son, Brock Turner, is a former Stanford University swimmer. He is also a convicted rapist. When he was sentenced Thursday to a mere six months in a county jail, he managed to avoid serving up to 14 years in prison, in part because of a letter you sent ahead of his sentencing requesting leniency.
In the letter, you wrote that prison would be “a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action” out of your son’s “20-plus years of life.” You wrote that your son’s life “has been deeply altered forever by the events of Jan. 17 and 18 [2015].” You expressed concern “he will never be his happy-go-lucky self with that easygoing personality and welcoming smile” and claimed “his every waking minute is consumed with worry, anxiety, fear and depression.”
Do you know whose life has also been deeply altered forever by the “events” that January night? That “20 minutes of action” a panel of jurors agreed was rape? That would be Brock’s victim, the young woman he penetrated behind a dumpster while she was unconscious, without her consent.
