Father Of Convicted Rapist Doesn’t Believe Son Should Be Punished For “20 Minutes Of Action”

The father of 20-year-old, former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner has defended his son’s crime in a letter, claiming his punishment is too harsh and his son doesn’t deserve it.

Brock Turner is at the centre of a high-profile court case after he was convicted of raping an unconscious young woman being a dumpster in January of 2015. He was stopped by two graduates who happened to be walking past at the time, and who pinned him to the ground when he tried to flee.

He was found guilty of three felony sexual assault counts, but will serve just six months in jail (or less) and three years of probation. He will also need to complete a sex offender management program, and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Brock Turner’s mugshot | source: Washington Post

However his father believes that his six month sentence, the minimum for a crime that could have seen him serve 14 years in prison, is too harsh. While others call out the judge for giving the 20-year-old a “slap on the wrist”, Turners’s father claimed in his letter that the punishment was “a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action”.

In the statement that was released to the public, Turner’s father claimed that his son’s life had been “deeply altered” by the events of January 2015, and that he would never be the same again. He notes that his son’s “happy go lucky self” and “easy going personality” and “welcoming smile” are gone, and that “his every waking minute is consumed with worry, anxiety, fear and depression”.

Turner’s dad also claimed in the letter that Brock had lost his appetite, and that “his life will never be the one he dreamt about and worked so hard to achieve”. In the letter he called for a probation sentence only, and to spare Turner from being listed as a sex offender.

Letter By Father Of Convicted Rapist

source: twitter.com

Online critics have slammed the letter as an insensitive example of the rape culture and victim blaming that sexual assault sufferers deal with in reporting their crimes.

In particular his phrasing describing the assault as “20 minutes of action” has been blasted by critics the world over as ignorant and incredibly offensive to his victim, and other victims of sexual assault. His unidentified victim has also made news with a letter of her own, the impact statement she read in court that described how the attack had left her emotionally scarred.

“My independence, natural joy, gentleness, and steady lifestyle I had been enjoying became distorted beyond recognition. I became closed off, angry, self-deprecating, tired, irritable, empty,” she said in the statement.

Turner heading into court | source: The Guardian

Jeff Rosen, a District Attorney in the region, said that he and many others were disappointed with the sentence the judge had passed on Turner.

“The punishment does not fit the crime,” Rosen noted after the sentence was publicly announced. “The sentence does not factor in the true seriousness of this sexual assault, or the victim’s ongoing trauma. Campus rape is no different than off-campus rape. Rape is rape.”