There are plenty of messed up things in this cruel, cruel world we live in.

Rape is easily among the worst.

To force yourself on another person against their will is disgusting, degrading and immoral.

Former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner did just that. The wholesome-looking 20-year-old was convicted in March of the intent to commit rape of an intoxicated/unconscious person, penetration of an intoxicated person and penetration of an unconscious person.

Turner was given a six-month jail sentence, three years probation and has to register as a sex offender.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky said Thursday that Turner’s age and lack of criminal history made him feel the sentence was appropriate.

“A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him,” Persky said. “I think he will not be a danger to others.”

A severe impact on him? Think about his victim. Think about the impact his actions will have on her.

 

“My damage was internal, unseen, I carry it with me. You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today,” the 23-year-old victim read in a letter at Turner’s sentencing Thursday.

There is a reason the majority of rape victims don’t initially speak out about what happened — they are scared. They’re worried they’ll be judged a certain way. They’re worried they’ll be looked at as a lesser, damaged person. They’re worried they’ll be blamed for being raped because of what they wore, how flirty they may have been or how much they drank.

Sure, the victim’s physical scars will heal, but the emotional and mental scars will stay with her forever. It will effect her trust, her social habits, her life.

Yet while this victim will have to deal with the consequences of rape forever, Turner won’t. He gets a slap on the wrist. He’ll go to jail for half a year, be on probation for three years and be over it. Ten years from now, it will be nothing more than a long-lost memory of college.

The “20 minutes of action” (as his father downplayed the incident as) will haunt the victim for the rest of her life and Turner’s punishment should reflect that.

I’m not saying he has to walk around with a scarlet “R” emblazoned on his chest, but the punishment has to fit the crime.

I bet his sentence would have been a lot more severe if he wasn’t a white student-athlete at a prestigious university.