Why Holding Judge Persky Accountable Matters
Anything less perpetuates a national culture of rape we have worked so hard to stand against
Convicted Stanford rapist Brock Turner was released from jail this morning. But just three months ago, before Judge Aaron Persky announced his alarmingly short sentence, the survivor of Turner’s assault read a personal letter aloud in court:.
“You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today,” she said, reading from a poignant statement that outlined horrifying details of the assault, its aftermath, the trauma of the trial, and the continued impact that night has had on her life.
As she read her statement, the survivor did not know that the man on the bench was preparing to deliver her a final blow.
Following this powerful speech, Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Brock Turner to six months in jail — down to just three with probation — for the sexual assault of an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. The prosecution’s sentencing memo called for Turner to serve six years in jail, but Judge Persky ignored that recommendation out of concern that a longer prison sentence would have a “severe impact” on the defendant.
Following public outrage and dismay, Judge Persky soon became the latest figure in a long line of examples that prove rape culture’s heavy role in our criminal justice system.
Last year, a judge in Montana sentenced a schoolteacher to just 30 days in jail for the rape of his 14-year-old student. When the judge, Todd Baugh, announced his sentencing decision, his justification was that the survivor seemed “older than her chronological age.” And in Idaho, Sheriff Craig Rowland protested against proposed legislation that would mandate the testing of rape kits, saying that most rapes reported to his office are not actually rapes, but that “things just went too far and someone got scared.”
Since Persky’s ruling in the case of Brock Turner, we have seen similar examples of our so-called justice system excusing rapists and normalizing sexual violence against women. In Indiana, John Enochs, a student at Indiana University, was charged with felonies in two separate rape cases, but was given a plea deal that dismissed the charges in exchange for one year of probation and zero prison time. Prosecutors claimed that Enochs would need two separate trials, and the cases weren’t strong enough independently of each other to win convictions — despite video and DNA evidence.
At the beginning of August, Judge Patrick Butler sentenced Austin Wilkerson, a convicted rapist and University of Colorado-Boulder student who isolated, targeted and assaulted an unconscious woman, to just two years on work release. Just last week, Judge Thomas Estes sentenced David Becker, a high school athlete who sexually assaulted two unconscious classmates, to just two years probation, so that Becker would not miss out on the “college experience” and that even a short sentence could “ruin his life.”
All of these perpetrators are white men. None of them served the recommended sentences for their crimes. This failure of our justice system happens every day in America. These are not isolated instances of sexual assault; they are just a handful of documented cases where justice has been denied to survivors by the very people appointed to deliver it.
In the United States, one in five women will be raped at some point in her lifetime. On college campuses, one in four women will be sexually assaulted. Yet, most rapes go unreported. Only one third of survivors will report their assault. Fewer cases go to trial, and an even smaller percentage result in convictions. All told, it is estimated that more than 97% of rapists will never spend a single day in jail.
These numbers tell survivors that they are better off staying silent about the trauma they have faced, when they deserve so much more than that. Survivors deserve justice. Rapists are convicted based on evidence presented at a trial, and in front of a jury that deliberates a verdict. We need a justice system — and judges — that will take that verdict seriously.
When law enforcement officials publicly doubt survivors, and when rapists like Brock Turner, John Enochs and David Becker have their crimes get off with a slap on the wrist, it undermines the integrity of our entire justice system; this has a harrowing effect on every future sexual assault victim.
We need a justice system that puts survivors first. We cannot continue giving rapists get-out-of-jail-free cards. When people like Judge Persky allow sexual assault to go unchallenged, it sends a message to every survivor of sexual assault that the rapist’s life is more worthy of consideration and protection than theirs lives. It sends the message that there is no justice for survivors of sexual abuse.
In California, Judge Persky has recused himself from hearing criminal cases, following months of public outcry and the release of previous court documents that proved Persky had a record of sentencing rapists, domestic abusers and child porn possessers to far below the recommended sentences for their crimes. However, Persky’s reassignment is not permanent, and he will still preside over civil cases. A number of lawsuits involving sexual assault and domestic violence changes are still tried in civil court and Judge Persky has a record of allowing inappropriate evidence that undermines survivors to be admitted in these cases.
That is why more than 1.2 million UltraViolet members have called on the state’s Commission on Judicial Performance to remove Judge Persky from the bench for good.
It is our job to ensure that those in positions of power are held accountable. This week, instead of letting another rapist walk free, let us make the Stanford survivor’s assault mean something more than another tragic case of injustice. By removing Judge Aaron Persky from the bench permanently, we can send a message to our entire judicial system and the nation that justice for survivors matters.
Anything less perpetuates a national culture of rape we have worked so hard to stand against.
Anything less is unacceptable.
