While drug users are taking over our prison system, rapists are walking off with minimal punishments. In our court system today judges have more sympathy for white rapists than African American men with possession charges. One of the most famous cases that proves the level of privilege white men have in our court system today is Brock Turner. Brock Turner was a swimmer at Stanford University who raped an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. As horrifying as this crime is, Brock Turner was only sentenced to six months in prison. Going through the news it is guaranteed that you will find a disturbing amount of cases just like this one.
In our system today we need to force rapists to serve much higher sentences. By holding rapists more accountable of their actions, we can than help fix the rape culture in our country. It is beyond repulsive that women are being victim blamed for men’s actions. Every time a man gets away with rape, it reinforces how little power the criminal justice system actually provides women. During rape trials women are put on the stand and slut shamed by the defendant’s attorney. Women are more often told by people of higher power to keep their mouth shut when they are sexually abused.
It is time for the government to give women their power back. We need to focus our attention less on the way women dress and more on the way we prosecute sexual assaults. By continuously letting rapists walk free we are encouraging more sexual assault crimes to happen. Not only do we need to deter men from committing such horrendous acts, but we need to educate boys on how to properly treat women.
Please comment your thoughts on the rape culture our country experiences!