In a pre-sentencing letter to the judge released today by the New York Times, convicted rapist Brock Turner fails to own any responsibility for raping an unconscious woman behind a trash dumpster on Jan. 17, 2015. Turner's plea letter reads like a laundry list of white male privilege lost. It touched the white male judge in all the right places. Turner begs for leniency in his letter, and he got it.
“I’ve been shattered by the party culture and risk taking behavior that I briefly experienced in my four months at school,” writes the former Stanford University student. “I’ve lost my chance to swim in the Olympics.”
Turner blames the sexual assault he committed on a campus culture of excessive alcohol consumption, peer pressure, and “sexual promiscuity.”
There's no way Brock Allan Turner–oh by the way, did you see his swimming times?–could have raped a woman because he's a fucking rapist.
In a letter to Judge Aaron Persky of the Santa Clara County Superior Court which was submitted before his ridiculously wrist-slap of a sentence, Turner says: “I am the sole proprietor of what happened on the night that changed these people’s lives forever. I would give anything to change what happened.”
The New York Times published a copy of his letter today. In it, Turner also says that his decision to rape an unconscious woman behind a trash dumpster on the Stanford campus left him “a changed person.” I'll bet! It changed the woman he raped, too.
Here, let Brock Turner tell you more about what he has lost by raping that anonymous woman.
“I’ve lost my ability to obtain a Stanford degree. I’ve lost employment opportunities, my reputation and most of all, my life.”
That's right. Because he raped an unconscious woman behind a dumpster, he literally lost his life.
“These things force me to never want to put myself in a position where I have to sacrifice everything,” the rapist continued.
“I would make it my life’s mission to show everyone that I can contribute and be a positive influence on society from these events that have transpired. I will never put myself through an event where it will give someone the ability to question whether I really can be a betterment to society. I want no one, male or female, to have to experience the destructive consequences of making decisions while under the influence of alcohol. I want to be a voice of reason in a time where people’s attitudes and preconceived notions about partying and drinking have already been established.”
What is the moral of Brock Turner's rape-to-redemption story?
“I want to let young people know, as I did not, that things can go from fun to ruined in just one evening.”
In addition to his six-month jail sentence, which is insanely lenient compared to the 14-year maximum, Turner will serve three years’ probation and must register as a sex offender.
Get your tiniest violin ready to play the saddest song in the universe, because he also lost his swimming scholarship to Stanford, and the university banned him from ever stepping foot on the campus again.
That punishment was "a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action," according to Brock Turner's dad.
“In Stanford Rape Case, Brock Turner Blamed Drinking and Promiscuity” [Liam Stack, New York Times]
Want to get even more pissed off? Stanford had one rape every two weeks before Brock Turner was caught on Jan. 17, 2015.
From the Daily Beast:
Stanford University reported a sexual assault every two weeks in the three years leading up to Brock Turner’s rape of an unconscious woman in 2015.
The elite college reported 26 rapes on campus in 2012, 2013, and 2014, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education, or about one sexual assault every 14 days.
Then, almost exactly two weeks into 2015, another woman was raped on campus.
