BROCK ALLEN TURNER HAD TO WRITE A LETTER TO THE JUDGE RIGHT
BEFORE THE JUDGE DECIDED TO GIVE HIM A TINY SENTENCE, AFTER
HE WAS CONVICTED OF RAPING AN UNCONSCIOUS GIRL BEHIND A
DUMPSTER.
NOW, BROCK ALLEN TURNER GOT SIX MONTHS IN JAIL FOR RAPING
SOMEONE, BUT THE CHARACTER LETTER THAT HE SENT TO THE
JUDGE BASICALLY DID NOT REALLY TAKE REAL BLAME FOR HIS
ACTIONS IN DOING A RAPE, IN RAPING A WOMAN.
IN FACT, IT SEEMED LIKE HE WAS BLAMING ALCOHOL.
LET ME REDO PARTS OF THE LETTER.
HE SAID, "I WISH I HAD THE ABILITY TO GO BACK IN TIME AND
NEVER PICK UP A DRINK THAT NIGHT, LET ALONE INTERACT WITH
[THE VICTIM].
I AM A CHANGED PERSON.
AT THIS POINT IN MY LIFE I NEVER WANT TO HAVE A DROP OF
ALCOHOL AGAIN.
I NEVER WANT TO ATTEND A SOCIAL GATHERING THAT INVOLVES
ALCOHOL OR ANY SITUATION WHERE PEOPLE MAKE DECISIONS BASED
ON THE SUBSTANCES THAT THEY HAVE CONSUMED."
ON GOING TO STOP THERE, AND JUST NOTE THAT THIS IS THE PART
THAT EVERY MEDIA OUTLET IS CIRCLING RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE
THAT IS THE PART THAT STANDS OUT THE MOST.
IT'S SEEMS AS THOUGH HE DOES NOT SEE HIMSELF AS SOMEONE WHO
WAS A CONVICTED RAPIST OR A CRIMINAL, HE SEES HIMSELF
AS AN INNOCENT INDIVIDUAL WHO JUST HAPPENED TO DRINK TOO
MUCH AND AS A RESULT OF THAT DID WHAT HE DID.
BUT IT'S NOT THE ALCOHOL, IT'S NOT BECAUSE THE VICTIM GOT
DRUNK, IT'S NOT BECAUSE OF COLLEGE CAMPUS CULTURE, OR
COLLEGE PARTY CULTURE, IT IS BECAUSE YOU RAPED SOMEONE,
AND YOU HAVE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS
IF YOU GENUINELY WANT PEOPLE TO SEE THAT YOU'RE REMORSEFUL.
THERE IS ONE OTHER THING IN THERE THAT BOTHER ME A
LITTLE BIT.
HE SAID HE SHOULDN'T HAVE DRANK THAT NIGHT, AND AS YOU SAID
LET ALONE INTERACT WITH THE VICTIM.
YOU CAN TAKE THAT IN A POSITIVE LIGHT AND SAY, I WISH I
HADN'T DONE ANYTHING AGAINST HER ñ
ALTHOUGH INTERACT IS A FUNNY WORD.
YOU CAN TAKE THAT IN A NEGATIVE WAY AND LOOK AT IT AS
VICTIM BLAMING.
IF I HADN'T RUN INTO HER, EVERYTHING WOULD BE FINE.
IF I'M THE JUDGE I LOOK AT THIS IN ITS TOTALITY AND GO, BOY
THIS KID STILL DOESN'T GET IT.
HE SAYS, OH NO I'M REALLY HURT AND IT'S HURT THE CORE OF WHO I
AM AND I CAN'T DRINK ANYMORE.
I'M NOT SURE YOU'RE GETTING THE SEVERITY OF WHAT YOU DID TO
THE OTHER PERSON.
THERE IS A LOT OF MENTION OF WHAT HE'S FEELING, AND WHAT
HE'S GOING THROUGH, AND THERE'S VERY LITTLE MENTION OF WHAT
THE ACTUAL VICTIM IS GOING THROUGH.
I'M GOING TO BE TO THE PART WHERE I THINK HE SOUNDS THE
ABSOLUTE MOST ñ MOST RESORT ñ MOST REMORSEFUL, AND THE
ONLY PART IN A LETTER WHERE HE SOUNDS COMPLETELY REMORSEFUL.
HE SAYS, "I AM THE SOLE PROPRIETOR OF WHAT HAPPENED
ON THE NIGHT THAT THESE PEOPLE'S LIVES WERE CHANGED FOREVER.
I WOULD GIVE ANYTHING TO CHANGE WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT.
I CAN NEVER FORGIVE MYSELF FOR IMPOSING TRAUMA OR PAIN ON
THE VICTIM.
IT'S DEBILITATED ME TO THINK THAT MY ACTIONS HAVE CAUSED
HER EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL STRESS THAT IS COMPLETELY
UNWARRANTED AND UNFAIR."
THAT WAS PROBABLY THE BEST PART OF HIS LETTER, BUT IT IS LONG
AND THE REST OF IT TALKS ABOUT HOW HE FEELS ABOUT WHAT HAS
HAPPENED TO HIM.
THAT PART OF THE LETTER IS GREAT, I WISH HE HAD ONLY WROTE
ñ WRITTEN THAT OTHER PART ñ
I WISH HE HAD ONLY WRITTEN THAT PART.
READ THE OTHER PART.
THIS DRIVES ME NUTS.
HE SAYS HE'S LOST TWO JOBS SOLELY ON THE REPORTING OF
HIS CASE.
HE SAYS HE WISHES HE WAS NEVER GOOD AT SWIMMING OR HAVE
THE OPPORTUNITY TO ATTEND STANFORD SO THAT MAYBE THE
NEWSPAPERS WOULDN'T WANT TO WRITE STORIES ABOUT HIM.
BROCK, YOU'RE NOT GETTING IT.
YOU'RE NOT UNLUCKY BECAUSE YOU'RE GOING TO STANFORD
AND THAT'S WHY THEY ARE WRITING ABOUT YOU, AND OTHERWISE
YOU WOULD GET A VERY LIGHT SENTENCE ANYWAY AND NO ONE
WOULD HAVE "BOTHERED YOU" FOR RAPING SOMEONE.
NO, YOU'RE SUPER LUCKY FOR GOING TO STANFORD AND HAVING
THESE PRIVILEGES.
IF SOMEONE IN THE INNER-CITY WHO IS 20 YEARS OLD RAPED
SOMEONE BEHIND A DUMPSTER, THEY'RE NOT CALLED A KID,
AND THEY SUFFERED TREMENDOUS, SIGNIFICANT CONSEQUENCES.
DOESN'T HAVE TO BE INNER-CITY, CAN BE POOR OR MIDDLE-CLASS
ANYWHERE IN THE COUNTRY.
THEY HAD AN ACTUAL KID, 16-YEAR-OLD THAT WE
REPORTED ABOUT, WAS WRONGLY ACCUSED, HE WAS FACING 41 YEARS.
HE SERVED OVER FIVE YEARS WHEN HE DIDN'T EVEN DO IT.
NOW WE FIND THIS KID IS GOING TO GET RELEASED IN THE
BEGINNING OF SEPTEMBER, HE'S ONLY GOING TO SERVE THREE
MONTHS BECAUSE OF GOOD BEHAVIOR.
YOU HAVE ALL THE PRIVILEGE IN THE WORLD.
BECAUSE YOU WENT TO STANFORD AND YOU ARE GOOD AT SWIMMING,
YOU ARE GOING TO GET A SLAP ON THE WRIST FOR RAPE, AND HE
STILL THINKS HE'S THE VICTIM.
POOR ME, THE MEDIA IS TREATING ME UNFAIRLY.
IF IT WASN'T FOR THEM I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN A LIGHT
SENTENCE, BECAUSE WHAT?
IT'S NOT THAT BIG A DEAL?
HE DOESN'T GET IT.
IT SEEMS LIKE HE IS CONSIDERED INFALLIBLE BY HIS FAMILY
MEMBERS AND THE PEOPLE AROUND HIM.
HIS FRIENDS WROTE CHARACTER LETTERS FOR HIM, AND THIS
BASICALLY HAPPENS BEFORE THE JUDGE SENTENCES YOU.
IT'S SUPPOSED TO INFLUENCE THE JUDGE'S SENTENCING.
THAT WAY THE SENTENCE FAKES ñ MAKES SENSE.
YOU READ THESE CHARACTER LETTERS AND THEY ARE RIDICULOUS,
THEY MAKE EXCUSE AFTER EXCUSE FOR HIS BEHAVIOR.
1ST OF ALL, ONE OF HIS FRIENDS, LESLIE RASMUSSEN SAYS, RAPE
ON CAMPUS ISN'T ALWAYS BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE RAPISTS.
YEAH, RAPE ON CAMPUS ISN'T ALWAYS BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE
RAPISTS.
IF SOMEONE RAPES, THEY ARE BY DEFINITION A RAPIST.
THAT DEFENSE BASICALLY WORKED.
THIS IS A REAL RAPE, REAL RAPE IS DONE BY POOR PEOPLE THAT
ARE SCARY, AND THE OTHER, AND YOU DON'T WANT TO MEET THEM
IN A DARK ALLEY.
BY THE WAY, HE RAPED THEM IN A DARK ALLEY.
NOT THIS GOOD UPSTANDING CITIZEN.
AND IF HE DOES IT ON CAMPUS HE'S NOT REALLY A RAPIST.
AND THE JUDGE WAS LIKE GOOD POINTS, I'LL ONLY GIVE HIM
SIX MONTHS, AND IN REALITY I KNOW THAT'S ONLY SIX MONTHS
ñ THREE MONTHS, BECAUSE I KNOW PRISON WILL BE DIFFICULT.
THE JUDGE CAN'T SEE STRAIGHT.
I DON'T WANT TO TURN THIS INTO A THING WHERE IF EVERY JUDGE
ISN'T SUPER TOUGH ON PEOPLE WE ARE GOING TO GET RID OF
THEM, I JUST WANT THE SAME JUSTICE FOR EVERYBODY.
I WISH THAT JUDGE WOULD REALIZE THAT PRISON IS GOING TO BE TOUGH
ON EVERYONE HE SENDS TO PRISON.
YOU THINK IT'S NOT GOING TO BE TOUGH ON A MINORITY KID?
ON A POOR KID JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE POOR?
YOU ARE A JUDGE, EVERYONE YOU SENT TO PRISON IS SEVERELY
IMPACTED!
IF YOU THINK THAT CENK IS OVERREACTING, LET ME GIVE YOU
A STATEMENT BY THE JUDGE AFTER HE READ THE LETTER FROM BROCK.
"I TAKE HIM AT HIS WORD THAT SUBJECTIVELY THAT'S HIS
VERSION OF HIS AT ñ EVENTS.
NOT CONVINCED THAT HIS LACK OF COMPLETE ACQUIESCENCE TO
THE VERDICT SHOULD COUNT AGAINST HIM."
IN OTHER CASES, IF YOU DON'T IMMEDIATELY ADMIT GUILT
THEY THROW THE BOOK AT YOU.
YOU SHOW NO REMORSE, YOU'VE LEARNED NOTHING FROM THIS,
YOU ARE CLEARLY A THREAT TO SOCIETY.
MAXIMUM SENTENCE.
IN THIS CASE, HE DOESN'T QUITE GET IT AND HE DOESN'T ADMIT
IT, BUT IS HE REALLY A RAPIST?
IT HAPPENED ON CAMPUS.
AND I DON'T WANT TO HAVE A SEVERE IMPACT ON THE POOR KID.
THERE IS A TWO-TIERED JUSTICE SYSTEM, AND ANYONE WHO
DENIES IT IS EITHER NAœVE OR IN DENIAL.
THIS IS WHAT THE REALITY OF AMERICA IS.
IF YOU HAVE CERTAIN PRIVILEGES, IF YOU ARE FROM A CERTAIN
SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS, OR YOU HAVE A CERTAIN SKILL COLOR
ñ SKIN COLOR, THE ODDS ARE IN YOUR FAVOR.
WE TALK ABOUT WHITE PRIVILEGE, THIS IS NOT ALL WHITE PEOPLE'S
FAULT THAT THIS IS HAPPENING, THAT WHITE PRIVILEGE EXISTS.
YOU'RE NOT NECESSARILY GUILTY OF WHAT THE SYSTEM IS DOING.
IT'S JUST MEANS THAT BECAUSE OF CERTAIN BIASES THAT EXIST,
CERTAIN PEOPLE GET A BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT THAT OTHER PEOPLE
DON'T GET.
JUST BE AWARE OF THAT, AND SHOW THE SAME LEVEL OF EMPATHY
TO OTHERS AS YOU MIGHT SHOW TO THIS GUY.
I THINK HE WAS SHOWN WAY TOO MUCH EMPATHY IN THIS CASE, BUT
WHAT DRIVES ME CRAZY ME ñ CRAZY ZOOM ñ WHEN WE SHOW NO EMPATHY
TO THE OTHERS AND WE CRUSH THEIR LIVES WITHOUT A SECOND THOUGHT.
ON TOP OF THAT, THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE THIS PRIVILEGE, IN
THIS CASE BROCK ALLEN TURNER IS A GREAT EXAMPLE OF IT, POUR SALT
ON EVERYONE ELSE'S WOUNDS BY PRETENDING THEY ARE THE VICTIM.