Brock Turner, the former Stanford student who was convicted last year of raping a woman while she was unconscious at a frat party, might have escaped jail when he was released early from his (already short) 6-month prison sentence. But that doesn't mean he's escaped the court of public opinion. A recent viral post on social media shows Turner being used as a prime example of “the way sexual violence has been handled in the criminal justice system” in a Criminal Justice 101 textbook.
Washington State University freshman Hannah Kendall Shuman shared a snap of a page in her second edition Introduction to Criminal Justice: Systems, Diversity, and Change textbook, in which a large photo of Turner is prominently displayed next to a section on rape.
The full caption under the photo reads:
“Brock Turner, a Stanford student who raped and assaulted an unconscious female college student behind a dumpster at a fraternity party, was recently released from jail after serving only three months. Some are shocked at how short this sentence is. Others who are more familiar with the way sexual violence has been handled in the criminal justice system are shocked that he was found guilty and served any time at all. What do you think?”
Additional context about the case was provided, right next to Turner’s photo:
“A recent highly publicized example is that of rapist Brock Turner. Turner, a student at Stanford University, was caught in the act, and ultimately convicted of three felony charges: assault with intent to rape an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object, and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object. Turner’s victim was unconscious during the attack, as it happened behind a trash container outside of the Kappa Alpha fraternity house on campus.”
"I didn't think anyone of status or wealth would ever want to bring him up again," Shuman told the Huffington Post. "It seemed like America just wanted to act as if he never happened. I'm glad his name is resurfacing."
Reactions to this flawless use of Turner's photo were unanimous: if he's not going to serve the appropriate amount of time for his crime, becoming the textbook definition of rape is at least very fitting.
Honestly my life is a little better that BROCK TURNER THE RAPIST is in a textbook to explain RAPE b/c the justice system failed that woman
Love this. Brock Turner may have escaped legal punishment for rape, but in a Criminal Justice textbook, he's the definition. pic.twitter.com/nSyavQvZAz
Good morning, especially to the person who made Brock Turner the face of rape in that textbook
A literal textbook example of a rapist and the poster boy of a broken justice system. Brock Turner served three months for a horrific rape. pic.twitter.com/yIrrxSBHqI
