Open Letter to Survivors of Sexual Assault
Rape is rape. This is neither merely a statement, a lesson, nor a slogan. This is a moral determination, our ability to tell right from wrong.
Rape is rape. And rape is wrong.
Yet far too often we’re tragically reminded that not everyone believes rape is wrong.
Brock Turner did not believe rape is wrong. His remorseless actions and powerful legal team compounded the injustice Emily Doe has been suffering since the day Turner forced himself on her unconscious body.
Equally disturbing is how many people in power appear to believe rapists do not deserve appropriate punishments, punishments severe enough to deter future attacks and to give survivors some semblance of justice — even if these victims can never be made whole again.
The six months in county jail that Judge Aaron Persky gave Brock Turner for raping an unconscious woman is not justice. The fact that Turner — who will be released today — only served three months in the end makes this all the more atrocious.
Dear Emily, Judge Persky failed you. Dear Survivors, the system has failed you. And we continue to fail you all on a daily basis.
One in five women will experience some form of rape or attempted rape at some point in their lives. Many more will be sexually assaulted.
Yet, the vast majority of sexual assault victims do not report their assault. Given Emily’s experience, one can understand some of the reasons why. She publically called Turner’s sentence a “a soft timeout, a mockery of the seriousness of his assaults, and insult to me and all women.”
I agree.
Too often, the outcome is even more insulting with attackers never seeing the inside of a jail, after a long court battle in which the victim is effectively put on trial, her reputation called into question with comments about her sexuality or what she wore that day.
Far too many attackers never even see the inside of a courtroom because their crimes are never even investigated. We know this from the 500,000 unprocessed rape kits that are sitting on evidence room shelves just waiting to do their job bringing justice, each one representing another victim left in limbo.
As the Lead Democrat on the committee in Congress that funds the Department of justice, I have been fighting to speed up the processing of those rape kits.
Rape is rape. Rape is wrong. And rape is a crime.
Yet, somehow we barely treat it as such. While Emily Doe will forever be haunted by the memories of the pine needles littered in her hair, her bruised body, and her horrible realization what had been done to her, Turner will get to go home today, a free man. He will go home to his parents and probably have a nice dinner. Maybe he’ll see some friends and, who knows, go out to see a movie.
He will go on with his life.
Yes as the victim told the court, Turner “took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice.”
By all accounts, Emily is a woman of exemplary courage in sharing her story and teaching us all more about the impacts on these victims. Nearly all develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. A third contemplate suicide. Most will struggle with future relationships. Many will struggle in their careers and other endeavors.
Being victimized is a lifetime sentence. Compare that with three months in county jail.
Dear Survivors, I promise we will not forget what Emily has taught us all. I will do more. We will do everything to ensure law enforcement can and will investigate, prosecute and properly punish rapists. All rapists from all walks of life, even the privileged class like Stanford University star athletes.
As of today, AB 2888 is on Governor Brown’s desk and I strongly urge him to sign it. AB 2888 would close the loophole Judge Persky used when sentencing rape and will require mandatory prison time for anyone convicted of raping an unconscious person. If this bill had been enacted prior to sentencing in Turner’s case, Turner would have faced at least a three, five, or eight-year minimum sentence for his assault.
I will continue to fight for funding to test those rape kits until every single one has been processed. This will give survivors the evidence many need to pursue justice inside the courtroom.
Rape is rape. Rape is wrong. Rape is a crime. It’s time we started — as a society — treating it like it is.
Mike Honda
