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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBrock Turner Freed From Jail After Serving Half Of 6-Month Sentence
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/02/492390163/brock-turner-freed-from-jail-after-serving-half-of-6-month-sentenceThree months after he received a lenient punishment for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman at Stanford University, Brock Turner left the Santa Clara County Main Jail on Friday morning. He served half of a six-month sentence that drew a furious public response.
The Stanford rapist is on the loose again. I have an opinion about whether justice was served, but good taste prevents me from posting it.
malthaussen
(17,217 posts)... choose your parents wisely.
-- Mal
Ms. Yertle
(466 posts)is all about having it all and not realizing it until it's gone. If there has been any justice here it is that he will think about this, regret it, and live with the results every day for the rest of his life.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)Really, that's the first word that comes to mind when I think about him.
Ms. Yertle
(466 posts)They were in such serious denial about what an a-hole he is that they couldn't even acknowledge his victim in their statements.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)They'll most likely be supporting him financially for a good long time.
madinmaryland
(64,933 posts)He will be lucky to get a job as a bagger at Dorothy Lane Market. More than likely he'll being mowing lawns to pay for his cell phone while he lives in Mommy and Daddy's basement.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)The whole story is tragic.
I wish so much that the woman can heal and move on with her life. I cannot imagine the horror of dealing with such an assault.
Ms. Yertle
(466 posts)she has a chance to redeem her life as it might have been.
He has no chance to EVER be back in the position he was in before he did this:
NO Olympics EVER.
No Stanford scholarship EVER.
No career as an orthopedic surgeon.
Registering as a sex offender with all that entails for the rest of his life.
Yup. He didn't get enough time behind bars, but this has forever altered the course of his life.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)So tragic for the victim.
JanMichael
(24,891 posts)Ms. Yertle
(466 posts)I don't think it would work. Everything about his crime was so repulsive that I think the public in general will be very happy to never hear his name again.
msongs
(67,453 posts)about truth, justice, and the american way?
Ms. Yertle
(466 posts)But perhaps also pointing out that a lot of people want to punish people after the "due process," flawed or not, has run its course.
We dislike that entirely when it's people that we want to justify, but are gung-ho for post-prison punishment when it's somebody we dislike and really insist is beyond forgiveness or paying his debt. Now it's "due process, due process." Now it's entirely in the spirit of public lynchings, but certainly less overt than, say, rioting when those we know are guilty aren't immediately strung up without a trial or due process at all.
The process in this case was wrong, in all likelihood. He should have served more (I need to say that not because it helps the argument but otherwise people will act on the pervasive contemporary ill-will and assume I'm pro-rape, even if that wasn't a charge in Turner's case). But the judge listened to all sorts of people--that's part of the process--and made his decision. If it's a drug dealer who got off light we would be defending not only his right to be left in peace but granting rights that traditionally have demanded some appeal that requires evidence of rehabilitation.
JTFrog
(14,274 posts)They should remove any judge that makes this kind of decision. There have been a number of ridiculous cases like this. It's called affluenza for a reason. And it's called rape culture for a reason. This judge is definitely part of the problem.
We have cops and DA's who don't test rape kits and judge's who let mommy and daddy talk their sons' way out of actual punishment for crimes that will probably affect the victims for life.
But no, people are "gung-ho for post prison punishment" and "public lynchings" How about actual punishment to begin with.
Just FYI, your disclaimer doesn't make your post any less offensive.
Ms. Yertle
(466 posts)as in this case, and in the case of child molesters, there should never be any leniency.
Drug offenses are far different. JMHO
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)rest of his days, like his victim.
Ms. Yertle
(466 posts)Every morning when he wakes up and contrasts his life as a grocery store stock boy/sex offender with what it could have been as an orthopedic surgeon, he will regret that "20 minutes of action" all over again.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)All it takes to grow here is $45, a visit to one of our many storefront weed card doctors, and a pulse. Please consult the following documentary on CA law:
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)It's great that SOME states have stopped putting pot smokers or even people with a pot plant or two in prison, hell in my state it's legally available for recreational use and ANY household can legally grow up to 4 (take that California- ahem, pass Measure 64, ahem)... still, the fact that a medical marijuana patient ANYWHERE in this country is facing a decade in prison while a rapist gets a relative slap on the wrist...
It's fucked up, is what I'm saying. Leave the prison space for violent criminals- like, you know, rapists.
No one should be in prison for marijuana. Period.
Igel
(35,359 posts)Also by severity of crime.
There are federal laws, not so often enforced (all that prosecutorial discretion stuff that says laws can be enforced or disregarded based on who's in charge and what "upholding the laws" is taken to mean today as opposed to last week or next month based on who's voting and the personal beliefs of the person swearing to do the upholding ... or holding up, as the case may be).