In January 2015, on the Stanford campus in California, the rapist Brock Turner took a young woman who was unconscious behind a dumpster, lifted her dress over her body, removed her underwear, penetrated her with his fingers, and tried to run away when two men came on their bikes and started asking him questions. Luckily, the two men caught him until the police took Turner into custody.
In March 2016, Turner was convicted of intent to commit rape of an intoxicated/unconscious person, penetration of an intoxicated person and penetration of an unconscious person, three felony charges.
In June 2016, Judge Aaron Persky thought it was appropriate to give Turner a 6-month jail sentence with probation and make Turner register as a sex offender, when he could have been sentenced to state prison for up to 14 years. As justification of his sentencing, Persky stated, “A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him. I think he will not be a danger to others.”
What kind of message does this send to the countless people, primarily women, who experience sexual violence? It says that the justice system will never provide justice for the violence they experience. It says their lives don’t matter.
Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network states that 1 in 6 women have experienced attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. Last year, The New York Times reported that 1 in 4 women experience sexual assault.
Instead of complaining that these numbers are misleading (as contributors to The Daily Beast and The Huffington Post did), we need to focus on the fact that 97 of every 100 rapists receive no punishment. This is not because they do not get caught or there is not enough evidence, but mainly because the current capitalist system we live in discredits the voices of the victims and survivors. Those who survive sexual assault and rape feel no one will believe them if they speak up. In the case of Brock Turner, everything worked out to lead to a conviction (evidence, witnesses and so on), and yet, he received nearly no punishment for his act of sexual violence.
The system benefits those with the upper hand in a racist, sexist, homophobic, capitalist system. In this system, the priority is that Turner, a white, privileged student athlete at an elite institution, should not have his life ruined because of “20 minutes of action,” as his father blatantly put it.
Where does this leave thousands upon thousands of people who the system does not serve, who the system does not provide justice for? Here are just a few names of those unjustly served.
- Tamir Rice – 12 year old playing with a toy gun – murdered.
- Akai Gurley – 28 year old walking in a stairwell – murdered.
- Aiyana Stanley-Jones – 7 year old sleeping on her couch – murdered.
- Sandra Bland – 28 year old – left to die in jail
In the Stanford case, the survivor was further brutalized on the stand because she was at a party drinking, a typical behavior for a 20-something in the United States. She was bombarded with a line of questioning that dehumanized her, a line of questioning that validated the attacker, a line of questioning that justified the idea that victims of rape deserve what they get. Turner’s lawyer degraded her, portrayed her as an object that had allowed herself to be violated. In the attorney’s eyes, she deserved what happened and anything she had to say did not matter because she could not remember. In spite of this verbal attack, which the survivor detailed as making her re-live the assault, the jury returned a guilty verdict.
This is a trend that as socialists we have to call out. The jury declares a guilty verdict then the judge, who functions as a tool beholden to the so-called justice system, ensures the sentencing maintains the status quo. Brock Turner received a 6-month sentence for attacking and violating an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. An assault that only stopped because of the heroic act of two men who happened be riding past on their bicycles.
If this sounds familiar, it should. Police officer Peter Liang received a light sentencing of 5 years probation and 800 hours of community service after killing Akai Gurley, a young Black man who was walking in a stairwell, from Judge Chun in Brooklyn this past April at the appeal of Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson after a jury had decided Liang was guilty of manslaughter.
The lesson? In case the jury does not acquit a high status perpetrator, then the judge will ensure the sentencing reflects a fundamental message — Black Lives Don’t Matter, Women that Survive Sexual Assault Don’t Matter.
This is a sexist system that upholds patriarchy, protects its proponents, and allows them to roam free– proponents who argue that drinking culture and promiscuity on campuses is the problem, proponents who believe in protecting a privileged, well-educated student athlete while refusing to acknowledge that violent actions against women can and should have any consequence.
The current justice system refuses to see rape and sexual assault as a crime and will not punish for it. The media helps maintain this idea as seen in how it blames the victim and sanitizes the attacker so as to inspire contempt for the former and sympathy for the latter.
The victory is a sign of disrespect and disregard for the survivor, her pain and suffering. That’s what capitalism does; it profits from the exploitation and suffering of the oppressed. The system is working just as it should, to benefit those that uphold patriarchy. It does not matter that the survivor’s life has been altered forever as long as the justice system ultimately maintains the status quo.
This pattern shows that racists and sexists will continue to act as they please. However, there is a bright side. Many people are outraged at the lenient sentencing and over 1 million people have signed a petition on change.org demanding that an impeachment process begin for Judge Aaron Persky. We stand in solidarity with the millions of people who see through the farce of the justice system. We stand in solidarity with the survivor and salute her bravery to fight against her attacker, to maintain her stance in the midst of attacks against her character, and to raise her voice even after the sentencing. We need to unite and stop the victim-blaming, demand the impeachment of the Judge Aaron Persky, and fight for a socialist system that will smash patriarchy.
Read the survivor’s statement that she read at sentencing.
