![]() ![]() In 2016, a bill jointly sponsored by Democratic state Reps. that includes penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with a body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” Therefore, under the FBI’s definitions, Turner’s actions were considered rape, but not California’s.Ĭiting the Turner case, California lawmakers decided to expand the definition of rape in the state. While local jurisdictions use a variety of terms to refer to the same action, the FBI (and other agencies gathering crime data) defines rape as “ type of violent crime. The jury did find Turner guilty of penetrating his victim with an object (his fingers), which California law described as a sexual assault. They were let go because, according to California law at the time of Turner’s offenses, a rape could only be committed if a penis was used to penetrate a person without consent, and there was no DNA evidence to suggest that had occurred Turner’s case. The two dropped charges were rape of an intoxicated person and rape of an unconscious person. ![]() Turner was eventually sentenced to six months in prison, of which he served just three - a fact that infuriated many people (including then-Vice President Joe Biden). Turner was indicted on five charges, and was ultimately convicted of three felonies: assault with intent to rape an intoxicated person, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object, and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object. Turner’s case provides a particularly clear example of these shifting definitions, and it even led to a change in California law. Turner’s case illustrates how rape law shifts over time Their curiosity about the case prompted me to include Turner in a section of my textbook that discusses the changing definitions of crime over time - specifically, on the page that focuses on the definition of rape in the FBI’s data collection efforts. (Stanford has since turned the site into a small memorial space honoring the victim.) The case drew widespread attention from the media and continued to interest my students, who often asked about it in class. So I was astonished not just by the publicity, but by the positive responses: people thanking me and sharing stories about rapes and assaults they had experienced.įor those unaware, Turner had been a student at Stanford in 2015 when he sexually victimized an unconscious woman outside a fraternity house - near a dumpster - during a party. I’m always on the lookout for real-world examples to help my students understand various aspects of our legal system, and this seemed like a good one. ![]() To see this memorialized in an academic textbook - even if Turner had eluded a just punishment - felt to many people like a step in the right direction.Īt the time, I didn’t think much of my decision to include the photograph in the new edition of Introduction to Criminal Justice: Systems, Diversity, and Change. ![]() The Turner case felt like a breakthrough moment where the public was widely on the side of the victim of sexual violence for once. To my amazement, a photo of that page, taken by a female college student, went viral and received a wave of news coverage. This year, next to that definition, I inserted a photo of Brock Turner, the Stanford Univeristy student who committed a brutal, infamous sexual assault on the campus three years ago - and served a paltry three months in jail. You can see he’s got that self-confidence that you look for.As one of the authors of a textbook on criminal justice, I’m literally the person who creates the textbook definition of rape.
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