Stupid Privileged White Kid Gets 6 Months for Rape, Father describes it as "20 minutes of action"

The BBQ Pit
#1

So uh… This is a thing.

In the few days since ex–Stanford swimmer Brock Turner was given a six-month jail sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, much of the internet’s chatter has converged on a heart-wrenching, beautifully argued, deeply felt statement the woman read to him in court. It’s a devastating account of the survivor’s revictimization during her trial, a powerful indictment of the lighter sentences imposed on white, wealthy sex criminals, and a haunting depiction of how rape culture exerts its influence on college campuses and in courts of law. The victim provided her statement to BuzzFeed News; the page been viewed more than 4 million times since Friday afternoon.

Now, the internet has an opposing letter to read: a defense of Turner reportedly written by his father, Dan. Posted early Sunday morning by Michele Dauber, a Stanford law professor and sociologist who led the school’s revision of its sexual assault policies in recent years, the letter appears to have been written prior to Brock’s sentencing to advocate for probation only, in lieu of any jail time.

So, just to be clear, this fuckbag rapes an unconscious woman, drags her through a year of court and litigation despite there being clear, incontrovertible evidence of him doing so (and as a result forcing his victim to relive the night over and over again, and have her worth as a human constantly rejected by the shitbag lawyer using the same tactics against rape victims one would expect we would have done something about by now), and faces six months of jail time.

For RAPE.

SIX MONTHS!

In a county jail!

If that’s not enough of a slap in the fucking face, his father then proceeded to pen this disgusting little letter:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2852614-Letter-from-Brock-Turner-s-Father.html

Notice how he never says “rape” or mentions the victim. Notice how he talks, not about rape, but about “20 minutes of action”, quite possibly the most disgusting euphemism I’ve seen this year. Notice how he acts like the guilt he faces is punishment enough - never mind that, to this day, his rapist son has not admitted or even acknowledged what he did and has never apologized to his victim.

Everything about this situation is beyond disgusting. I recommend everyone read the victim’s letter.

Does anyone think, even for a minute, that if this kid hadn’t been privileged or white, he would have gotten off with 6 months? Maybe so - after all, this 6 months still makes this one of the most heavily prosecuted rape cases, in the top 3% or so, because most rape cases never get prosecuted.

The judge seems to think he’s “not a threat to others”. I’d say the fact that he has never even admitted that he did anything wrong, blames the alcohol (rather than taking any responsibility for his crimes), and refuses to acknowledge his victim is evidence enough that he hasn’t figured that out, and I fear we’ll see this little bastard in the headlines again in a few years.

What a gigantic clusterfuck. Rape culture in action, ladies and gentlemen.

#2

Well worth the Pitting.

#3

I endorse this pitting as long as we acknowledge that as bad as Brock Allen Turner is, I’m thinking the judge is the real douchebag. The father and the kid’s childhood friend are pieces of shit, too.

#4

20 minutes of “action”. Jesus on rollerskates what a father figure…

Not just rape culture, OP, but entitled privilege, that expects and encourages lenient treatment based on “what a fine young man he is otherwise” and “he’s not likely to try to rape anyone else”, and “the mere record already ruins his prospects”. What deterrent is there then?

Like mentioned elsewhere if instead he were from some lower-social-standing demographic, he’d be headed up the river for years.

#5

Let’s be fair here - the judge is, to our knowledge, not a convicted rapist. He’s just bad at his job in a disgusting way.

#6

As somebody pointed out in the other thread on this topic, Dan Turner is trying to keep his son out of prison. While his methods are contemptible and he’s apparently raised a terrible son, I can’t pit somebody for trying to protect their child.

Judge Aaron Persky, on the other hand, fully deserves this pitting. He completely failed to do his job as an impartial arbitrator seeking justice.

#7

The whole thing is disgusting. My daughter’s about to enter a university as a freshman, and while I believe the school to be safe enough, this type of thing scares the shit out of me as a father.

#8

He had his choice of any set of words in the English language to protect his son. He chose “20 minutes of action.”

I was about to compose a sample statement to show how simple it is to write a tasteful statement that acknowledges the horror of the crime and places responsibility while pleading for leniency. But I don’t need to do take- you can imagine it. It’s not that hard to say something that isn’t reprehensible.

#9

Let’s just disabuse this bullshit right now: fuck that. He’s not trying to “protect” his son, he’s trying to help his son escape the consequences of his actions. He’s a fucking douchebag who’s unable to place “right & wrong” above “family” and I say that being a blood relation is no excuse for ignoring criminal "action"s. If his son had murdered a bus full of nuns, would you still give his father a pass? At some point, a person’s actions are so reprehensible that any ties of blood or friendship should not matter when assessing a person’s guilt and/or punishment.

No one is above the law, not even those we love.

#10

As long as we’re going there…

I made a joke in that other thread, and someone suggested I should be ashamed of myself. Since I saw a Mod note that I should basically “Shut the Fuck Up” in that thread, I’ll defend myself here, in The Pit.

First of all, the joke was not about rape, and certainly not at the expense of the victim. That would be fucked up and in poor taste.

If you don’t get the joke, sorry, sucks to be you. I’m not going to explain it. But I’d be willing to bet if Louis C. K. made the joke during a monologue on SNL, people would he howling with laughter.

Second, if you think some topics are “off the table” for joking about, again, sucks to be you. You need to step back and stop taking life and yourself so fucking seriously.

Rape is horrible. To make light of victims of rape would be horrible. But there sure are an awful lot of jokes being told about Cosby right now. See the difference?

I thought my “joke” was fucking hilarious!

#11

I thought you only got shown mercy if you expressed remorse and admitted your crime? Why is a kid who refuses to do either getting such a light sentence?

And when will the press switch from “Stanford student and swimmer…”, to “The accused rapist…”?

If you can afford a high powered lawyer, it seems things can go your way regardless!

#12

At least he is now a lot more infamous than he would have been if he had gotten a longer sentence. There is no way he can ever put this behind him now.

#13

The problem here isn’t with a parent trying to spare his son the consequences of his actions or even the son trying to get away with rape. That is not really surprising. What is offensive is a judge that goes along with it and convicts an adult to 6 months in jail because the judge doesn’t think this young white Stanford boy is really a risk.

Judges let white defendants off like this much more frequently than they let off minority defendants. That’s a problem.

#14

At this point isn’t he a convicted rapist?

The convicted Stanford swimmer rapist?

#15

it seems to me that many men’s thinking is that rape isn’t a big deal, it is basically sex and that women should get all that upset about lack of consent. Cause it is just sex. Since they (these men) all want to have sex everything is viewed through that lens.

women “owe” sex if a guy buys her dinner or a drink. Or apparently if she is breathing. Women owe sex so if a man “takes” it is just what he is owed. a woman flirts with a man, she owes him sex, Apparently, if you just talk to some men, it is an indication you want sex with him. So what is the bid deal? Why ruin someone from doing really important stuff like sports over sex. Like that politician once said, just lean back and enjoy it.

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

#16

Luckily, there are millions of people who are more than happy to pile on the kid. And again, not saying it’s undeserved. He did a terrible thing. But if one person is going to stand on his side, it might as well be his dad.

#17

Affluenza.

Rich and privileged people thinking they are above consequences.

Which, as the punishment here proves, is unfortunately very true in our society.

#18

I think it’s the reverse path, but ending up in the same place. I think the thinking is that rape is a terrible thing and a terribly big deal; it’s just that this particular case doesn’t seem as terribly big of a deal as their platonic ideal of what rape is – therefore it isn’t rape. And since they think rape is a terrible terrible thing, anybody who calls this – which isn’t rape, because they don’t think it’s terrible enough – rape is trivializing rape and inventing an epidemic and making totally bigoted claims like “men don’t care about rape.”

And round and round we go.

#19

Here, someone fixed that for you.

#20

I wonder then, would the dad have thought a year in jail would be appropriate if it was a 40 minute rape? More than a year in prison if it lasted an hour? Do you get probation with premature ejaculation?