I am not a judge nor am I jury, but you know who was convicted by a jury of his peers? Rapist Brock Turner.
Throughout the arrest and all of his trial, the majority of the news media referred him to as “Former Stanford Swimmer.” Some even stretched as far to say that he was headed for the Olympics and that this “mistake” ruined his future. Yes, you read that correctly—his future was ruined when he chose to rape an unconscious woman behind a dumpster in January 2015. Fast forward to March 2016 and he was found guilty of three felonies, but only sentenced to serve six months in prison and he only served three of those months after being released for “good behavior.”
Now here we are in December 2017 and the rapist is asking for a new trial. Aside from that, in and of itself, being absolutely absurd is the fact that the news media is still referring to him as “Former Stanford Swimmer.” I could understand not calling him a rapist prior to the trial (at the very least headlines could have included that he was accused of sexual assault), but he is now a registered sex offender.
How much more evidence needs to be presented for people to fully understand what he did and call him the rapist that he is?
Brock Turner is a convicted rapist, yet people still seem to be hung up on what he lost. By referring to him as what he used to be tells his victim, known as Emily Doe, that even though he was found guilty of violating her in the most obscene and senseless way—she was not heard.
Until the media decides to formally address rapists as such, victims will continue to feel like reporting sexual assault will make them the target or leave them forgotten by the world. I stand with Emily Doe because she is a person and if she must continually live with the reality of what he did, then he can live with the title of rapist.