20 minutes of action for him, 20 years of nightmares for her

I broke down last night. I broke down when I read the letter Emily Doe, the girl from the Stanford sexual attack case, wrote. After the twelve page tear jerker, I just have a feeling that I need to write something addressing some of the players in the situation, and that even though they probably won't get, but are things that I need to say to get off my chest. 

To Dan Turner: 

You released a statement a few days ago, telling the world how 20 minutes of action ruined your poor boys life. While it is true that he's now a registered sex offender and it is true prison won't be fun, what you have failed to consider how the 20 minutes of action will result in 20 years of therapy for Emily, and if she's lucky, she might one day resume her daily activities of being her goofy old self. You didn't consider how it has effected Emily's sisters life, who is  going through the same things you claim your son is. She too can't eat, can't sleep. She blames herself for this entire thing. 

What disgusts me more is that in your statement, you praise your boy. You tell the world in a statement that he got into Stanford, a place with 4% acceptance rate or that he got the highest GPA on the swim team. How does that justify rape? You go on to mention that he was socially depressed. I'm sorry, when did social depression make it O.K. to rape someone? The answer is never. 

You should be ashamed to call yourself a human. If this were my father I swear I'd've been subject to corporal punishment, banished from the family and he would've adopted Emily as his own. I am ashamed to  be in the species as you. 

To Judge Persky: 

You said in your sentencing that you "understood the devastation the victim suffered". No your honor (I associate you with honor very loosely and only because it's a societal norm, not that I believe you have an ounce of honor in you), you do not understand the devastation one goes through after such an event. You may ATTEMPT to understand it, but unless you've been through it yourself, you do not understand it. 

And since when did it matter that he was an all star athlete? Since when did it matter that because of all of this ordeal "he had to lose a scholarship to Stanford?" Oh no, now his daddy might have to pay tuition 6 months from when he gets out. How sad it must be to live the ugly life. I thought justice was blind. It saw no rich, no poor, no male, no female. I don't care if it were President Obama himself, it's no excuse for you to lessen a sentence, especially if it was rape. I so wish that you lose your next election. If this is what represents one of the most developed countries in the world, then let me tell you, your justice system is no different to India, or Saudi Arabia, where according to people "the justice system is a failure". 

To Emily: 

You are brave. The words you speak, the things you say surprise me. Your outer calamity, way you have responded to your attacker deserves nothing short of the utmost respect. What got the tears rolling was when you say "Your life is not over, you have decades of years ahead to rewrite your story. The world is huge, it is so much bigger than Palo Alto and Stanford, and you will make a space for yourself in it where you can be useful and happy. Right now your name is tainted, so I challenge you to make a new name for yourself, to do something so good for the world, it blows everyone away. You have a brain and a voice and a heart. Use them wisely. You possess immense love from your family. That alone can pull you out of anything. Mine has held me up through all of this. Yours will hold you and you will go on."

I cannot fathom what it takes to wish your attacker a happier life. To hope that he goes on to be happy. If I were in your place, I'd rather have him on his knees, begging for mercy while the gun I aim at his head blows a hole through it. That's all the mercy I have in my heart. I don't have much to say to you but to wish you well. To hope, just like you wished Brock a happier life, that you too go on to lead a happy one too. That you, and your family at some point, can work past this, and you can find your place in the world too. 

To the rest of the world: 

The reason I know much about this case is because of the outburst behind the judges decision, which I understand. But please have the right reasons for the outburst. If it's because the case sets a bad precedence, or if it's to shelter the next victim from such a poor ruling, then go ahead. But, if you're thinking that you'll be serving justice to Emily, know that her justice isn't your justice. 

While she may not forget it, ever, and while she'll still have nightmares about it till the end of time, her justice is to forgive. While the shorter sentence might surprise her, it's not that big of a deal. You see, to forgive, you need someone to ask for an apology, and an apology is all she wants. She wants the person who set her back so far, who changed her family's and those close to her life for worse, to look her in the eye, acknowledge what he has done, and say sorry. So do not fight for her justice. Her justice has nothing to do with a prison sentence. Her justice is to do with two words that a Brock Turner cannot utter. If you can convince him, then her justice is served. Instead, do it for everyone else that comes after, do it for the "girls everywhere". Do it for those who are doubted and dismissed and be there for them. Sentencing one man for another 5 years isn't helping much in the grand scheme of things. Work to sentence the 5000 others that will walk free, or ones yet to come.