#8: Case

The main case I am using in my argument is the well known case People V Turner that took place in 2015. Brock Turner, a male undergraduate student who was a member of a fraternity at Stanford University was arrested and tried for sexually penetrating an intoxicated and unconscious woman. He was charged with five counts of sexual assault, and only found guilty on three felony sexual assault charges. Although he could have received fourteen years in prison, the prosecutors instead recommended six years, yet he was sentenced to six months, and only served three months. It relates to my paper because this sexual assault happened on a college campus during a party and the perpetrator was a male college student also in a fraternity, and he got a slap on the wrist as punishment when he should have gotten something much worse. Victims of sexual assault often don't report their assault in fear of not being believed, getting blamed, and their case not getting the justice it deserves. This is apparent in this case; some people blamed the victim because she was so drunk to the point she was unconscious so it was clearly "her fault" and she "wouldn't have gotten assaulted if she didn't drink so much". And the Turner only served three months in jail which is definitely not the justice that the victim should have got. The victim was asked many questions about that night not even related to the sexual assault such as "How much did you drink? What were you wearing? Why were you going to this party? Are you serious with your boyfriend? Are you sexually active with him? Do you have a history of cheating?" as if the answers would justify being sexually assaulted. When she couldn't remember the answers, they turned over to Turner to fill in the rest of the story meaning he could say whatever he wanted and since he wasn't the unconscious one, people would believe him more. After all was said and done, Turner's father wrote a letter explaining how his life has changed in so many ways from "20 minutes of action". He reduced a horrible sexual assault down to sexual action, which implies that consent was given from both people and it wasn't and even said his son has never been violent including this night. Sexual assault is considered sexual violence meaning what his son did was a violent act. This case exemplifies things that can go wrong when a victim actually goes through with reporting a sexual assault. This case will support my argument that rape culture is still very prevalent on college campuses, within fraternities and Greek life, as well as a national problem.  In Brock Turner’s case, he interpreted the evening as just another potential hookup whereas the victim experienced the evening as a traumatic event, which is where the idea of hookup culture relates to this.

Some links I've found:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brock-turner-dad-letter-is-rape-culture-in-a-nutshell_us_57555bace4b0ed593f14cb30

https://www.buzzfeed.com/katiejmbaker/heres-the-powerful-letter-the-stanford-victim-read-to-her-ra?utm_term=.jhgpbRrzP8#.qsWY5loDAX

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/09/us/brock-turner-blamed-drinking-and-promiscuity-in-sexual-assault-at-stanford.html

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/06/father-stanford-university-student-brock-turner-sexual-assault-statement