Unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard about the rape case of former Stanford student Brock Turner. The one time member of the Stanford men’s swim team was convicted on three felony counts related to a 2015 sexual assault on an unconscious and intoxicated woman. He received a six month sentence for his heinous crime, with the possibility of only serving three months with good behavior.
Brian Banks, a former high school star athlete accused of rape, and ultimately found innocent after serving five years in prison, has perspective on this matter. In an article published by The Daily News, when responding to a question about the Brock Turner verdict, Banks said:
I would say it’s a case of privilege. It seems like the judge based his decision on lifestyle. He’s lived such a good life and has never experienced anything serious in his life that would prepare him for prison. He was sheltered so much he wouldn’t be able to survive prison. What about the kid who has nothing, he struggles to eat, struggles to get a fair education? What about the kid who has no choice who he is born to and has drug-addicted parents or a non-parent household? Where is the consideration for them when they commit a crime?
Banks makes a compelling point. During the sentencing of Turner, Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky said:
A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him. I think he will not be a danger to others.
I would certainly hope that a prison sentence would have severe impact on a man convicted of rape! How fortunate for Turner that the judge believes he will not be a danger to others. Turner’s father agrees and read a statement in court, categorizing his son’s despicable act as “20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life.” It should be mentioned the judge, Turner and Turner’s father all went to Stanford.
The handling of the case by the media and subsequent verdict has caused frenzied uproar. The terms white privilege and classism have been thrown around and social media is littered with comments. Those terms are correct and played a central role in this case.
The other major factor here is humanization. Who has the right to be humanized? The woman Turner raped, was dehumanized throughout this entire process. Her open letter to Turner, which she read in court, was the first time many people became aware of the case and her feelings about being attacked. Then there is the duality in the consistent images of a smiling Brock Turner yearbook photo and the list of his swimming accomplishments against a nameless, faceless victim. But, of course, only a privileged white male would be afforded the opportunity to be humanized. A young man from a family of means that simply made a “mistake.”
Then again, they way the case played out shouldn’t surprise anyone. I don’t think it surprised Banks and while it may have surprised his victim, it shouldn’t. There are systemic and systematic forces at play that have been going on for centuries and are embedded in the fabric of this country. The best way to describe the outcome of this case is unbelievably believable.
