Does the university, or the fraternity, have any responsibility here?
I can’t see why they would. They could help out just out of curtesy but they didn’t do anything wrong.
Now I’ve seen it all. Apparently the mother is calling this rape a regretted one-night stand and more. On the Brock Turner for 2016 Olympics Facebook page. Disgusting response to the verdict. The statement notes the family will vote for Trump in hopes he’d pardon this man.
This is totally unbelievable!
I don’t want to search for that–any chance it’s a parody? Hard to believe not, but OTOH, sounds like the rest of that sorry family.
I read her letter because it was the only way I could support her. It made me cry.
I will not read this man’s letter, he doesn’t deserve the attention, and I don’t need to hear anything he has to say. As the mother of boys and the only sister in a big bunch of brothers, I am deeply, deeply, deeply disturbed by the kind of sick parenting that produces a rapist like this.
I have been wondering who is responsible for the Facebook page. I had assumed it was a friend or relative of the rapist because of the photos of the rapist that look like they were taken In his home, and when he was much younger.
On another note, once the rapist is done with his jail term, does he have to stay in California for his probation period, or could he go back to Ohio? I ask because I’m hopeful he has to stay in CA where hopefully public outage will be great enough that he stays enough in the public eye to be reported if he breaks the conditions of his probation. Based on their previous actions, I could see his friends and family in Ohio protecting him from being reported for not meeting the conditions imposed.
Are the sentencing report and orders public yet?
Do you all not understand that it is not unusual to write a character letter to a judge? It is a normal part of the process. I don’t think the dad was delusional at all. He is doing exactly what a defense attorney would want him to do. He is doing something almost every single one of you would do if your offspring were in trouble with the law.
As far as speaking publicly about alcohol, face the facts, if this young man would not have been drunk there is a very high probability that this crime would never have occurred. What better good than to talk to young people and peers about what happened and what can happen if you lose control of your rational self. It saddens me that so many seemingly smart people on CC don’t believe in redemption and I’m not talking specifically about religious redemption…thread after thread supports this. Alot of anger and hatred gets spewed anonymously. I’m an optimist, I believe people can turn their life around. I think hate is a negative…I work every day to keep that out of my life even though I’m human and it seeps out now and then. As I like to tell the kids, you cannot change the past, what is done is done. But you can change the present. You can change the future.
According to the ACLU with only 5% of the world’s population, the
In my opinion, we as a nation, could do well to take a long hard look at ourselves and focus on the root causes and not the retribution. I still think the judge’s sentences was acceptable and only time will tell if it was appropriate for this particular young man.
We are discussing the statement Dan Turner released in response to his son’s sentence not any “character letter.”
If you haven’t read it, please read the young woman’s statement linked to above. It is a brutal, honest and moving account of how this impacted her life and of the court process. He apparently claims he ran away when the grad students approached because he was scared of getting attacked. Of course, as she points out, that means he left a passed out woman on the ground to be attacked.
She also said the probation officer did not accurately reflect her thoughts. It seems it was the probation report that influenced the sentence, which was (as she puts it) a “soft time-out, a mockery”.
[quote]
When I read the probation officer’s report, I was in disbelief, consumed by anger which eventually quieted down to profound sadness. My statements have been slimmed down to distortion and taken out of context. I fought hard during this trial and will not have the outcome minimized by a probation officer who attempted to evaluate my current state and my wishes in a fifteen minute conversation, the majority of which was spent answering questions I had about the legal system. The context is also important. Brock had yet to issue a statement, and I had not read his remarks.
My life has been on hold for over a year, a year of anger, anguish and uncertainty, until a jury of my peers rendered a judgment that validated the injustices I had endured. Had Brock admitted guilt and remorse and offered to settle early on, I would have considered a lighter sentence, respecting his honesty, grateful to be able to move our lives forward. Instead he took the risk of going to trial, added insult to injury and forced me to relive the hurt as details about my personal life and sexual assault were brutally dissected before the public. He pushed me and my family through a year of inexplicable, unnecessary suffering, and should face the consequences of challenging his crime, of putting my pain into question, of making us wait so long for justice.
I told the probation officer I do not want Brock to rot away in prison. I did not say he does not deserve to be behind bars. The probation officer’s recommendation of a year or less in county jail is a soft time-out, a mockery of the seriousness of his assaults, and of the consequences of the pain I have been forced to endure. [\quote]
Yes @HarvestMoon1 , I did notice that the letter as posted was addressed to Honorable Judge Aaron Persky hence my point that it would not be unusual.
and @Mom2and not sure I understand what point you are making…that the sentence was too lenient? That has been expressed by many. I have the position that it was not inappropriate but yes, within the low end of the guidelines.
Can you kindly re-link her letter? Thanks
I think the root cause is too many people make excuses for sexual assault and rape. Too much focus is put on how not to get raped (usually directed at girls) instead of teaching people (mostly boys) not to rape.
Sentences like this and support of the rapist, including those accepting alcohol as a mitigating factor, are a part of that root cause.
The problem with the felon and his father is that they are still denying that a violent assault took place at all. They continue to frame the felony conviction as an alcohol problem. As a “promiscuity” problem (excuse me while I throw up).
Of course redemption is possible. But first, we have to assume responsibility, and to do that, we have to own our actions. This felon and his family are still believe a sexual assault was just “gee, he really shouldn’t have been that drunk and he should have gotten her number”…I don’t care what he’s lost. Some actions leave deep scars and that’s just how it is. If he were an inner city guy from a community college with no athletic skills, would the story still be in the news?
Rape culture is when we are more interested in his story, than hers. When we are wanting redemption more than justice, and comfort more than reality. We hate the thought that some men can behave so repugnantly, so we re-write the narrative so we are more comfortable and in doing that, write the victim out of the story.
The root causes that contributed to this man raping an unconscious woman seem to include a disrespect for women, a sense of entilement that he could have what he wanted when he wanted, and a gross miscalculation about the likelihood of his getting caught. I teach my children that alcohol doesn’t cause behavior; it simply relaxes inhibitions. Someone who treats others badly when they’ve been drinking are not to be trusted sober. This man chose his actions and they were deliberate; there’s zero excuse for it. Rehabilitation is for people who are not a danger to the public. He is clearly a danger so he belongs in prison.
Addressing situations as a whole (educating people about the dangers of alcohol, providing opportunities for education and advancement, keeping nonviolent offenders out of the system, etc.) are all good, but should not be extended to people who don’t meet minimum qualifications. Raping an unconscious woman should mean automatic disqualification for the immediate future. Some distant parole board may revisit the decision, but distant in this case should not be measured in months.
momofthree: I wasn’t sure if all had read her statement. I also found her thoughts on the sentencing and her portrayal of the probation report important to the sentencing decision. I posted this before I read your post just above mine.
I, too, believe in redemption and yes jails are over-crowded but not with wealthy white Stanford students. Sending him to prison certainly would have been a message to other young men and to woman who have been assaulted. He would still have time for redemption. There is a difference between sending him to prison for multiple years and giving him a very light sentence in an over-crowded county jail where he is likely to serve very little time.
He was not too drunk to run away when the grad students approached. This was not the “two drunk kids” scenario - she was totally passed out. No other way to interpret his actions than as criminal.
I believe in redemption. Maybe some day this young man will seek it. An appropriate sentence might have helped that happen. I think the victim would have been more accepting of a light sentence had he ever shown any remorse and understanding for what he did, not what “happened to him.”
“He is doing exactly what a defense attorney would want him to do. He is doing something almost every single one of you would do if your offspring were in trouble with the law.”
Yes, though a competent defense attorney would want him to write a really different letter. Either he didn’t get any good advice, or he ignored it. If your letter causes public outrage, you messed it up bad.
@motherofthreeboys
This is bull. Do I believe this was the first time this young man has ever assaulted a woman? Maybe this was the first time he was caught. If I were this young man’s parent, I would have been a lot more apologetic. Boo-hoo, he has lost his appetite over this incident. Well, cry me a river. What about this young woman not able to sleep every night, waking up with nightmare? I guess she should just get over it. I would sue the parents for mental anguish and have them pay for mental health care for the rest of this woman’s life? Wonder if she could trust another man again? If she would be able to have a healthy relationship with another man? I guess she doesn’t really matter. We will just worry about Junior’s lost of appetite and his lost of happy go lucky outlook in life.
Why doesn’t it surprise me in the least that someone is STILL making excuses for this piece of filth and his father? Ugh.
Mo3b, you want to look at root causes? Your posts on this thread ARE the shining examples of the root causes of rape culture.