By now, we’re pretty sure everyone’s well-versed about the vexing case concerning Brock Turner, the convicted rapist and student athlete at Stanford University in California.
If you’ve managed to elude the viral (and depressing) turnout of the case, here’s a primer: 21-year-old former Stanford student Brock Allen Turner was found guilty of three counts of felony sexual assault on campus grounds in January last year. Two Swedish students found Turner assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster before chasing him down and restraining him until police arrived.
Both Turner and the victim had attended a fraternity party earlier — the 23-year-old woman had no memory of the incident due to extreme intoxication. Her statement in court was widely published and shared online, vividly detailing her excruciating experience following the incident, as well as the invasive character assassination carried out upon her in court.
Controversy emerged when Turner — a promising competitive swimmer and a potential Olympian — claimed trial to the charges. His side argued that the woman consented to his sexual advances and blamed “party culture” of college for his actions. 39 separate letters written by friends and family pleaded for leniency, including Turner’s father who referred to the rape as “20 minutes of action”.
Instead of the six-year prison sentence prosecutors had asked for, Judge Aaron Persky decided that six months in county jail and three years of probation was fitting. This was due to the fact that Persky believed Turner’s side of the story that the encounter was consensual.
The light sentencing sparked off campaigns against Persky, calling for his recall and resignation. Amidst the shock and appal over Turner’s sentence, now it seems that K Shanmugam himself has added his reputable voice to the fray.
“The 6 months sentence borders on the absurd,” the Minister for Law wrote on Facebook. “Cases like this can diminish confidence in the system as a whole.”
He even lists down the elements of any “effective criminal justice system”; points that included that it should not make it difficult for women to report crimes; it should not put women through unnecessary ordeal or interrogation in court; and the punishment should fit the gravity of the crime.
All of which seemed to have been puzzlingly absent in the People of the State of California v. Brock Allen Turner.
“In Singapore, we need to take a strict approach to those sorts of offences,” Shanmugam concluded. “And we need to work at making it easier for people to report and undergo examination when they have been victims of sexual violence.”
