Informal Content Analysis on the Brock Turner Case
1. “Here’s The Powerful Letter The Stanford Victim Read to Her Attacker" by Katie Baker
The emotional article starts out explaining what happened that fateful January 2015 night and then goes onto the lengthy letter the victim wrote addressing Brock Turner—the defendant—in court. The victim, now 23 years old, speaks about the night she wanted to do something with her sister that was visiting for the weekend. They eventually decided to go to a fraternity party on the Stanford campus. After the victim was separated from her sister and drank too much, she was escorted out of the party by Brock Turner. Turner claimed that the victim came willingly and gave consent to go back to his room. The next thing that the victim remembers was waking up in a hospital room. She explains that she was told she had been found unconscious behind a dumpster and had been raped. She details her experience of going through a rape kit test; how the nurses took swabs, pictures, and probed her vagina. When she got home, she didn’t tell her family or boyfriend about the ordeal. She states, “I would see the fear on their faces, and mine would multiply by tenfold, so instead I pretended the whole thing wasn’t real.” The victim tells of how the traumatic incident destroyed her emotionally; “I would drive to a secluded place to scream. I didn’t talk, I didn’t eat, I didn’t sleep, I didn’t interact with anyone, and I became isolated.” After a while, she, along with the rest of the world, found out what happened to her through the media. This was the first time she heard of Brock Turner and the two bicyclists that saved her by intervening and stopping Turner. Then came the trial. Turner was facing up to 14 years for the assault but the judge gave leniency to the defendant. The judge agreed with letters written by friends and family of Turner that a long sentence would have a “severe impact” on him therefore, the judge gave Turner 6 months. The victim expresses how hurt she is with the “gentle” sentence but she assures Turner that this has sparked a fire in the hearts of people all over the world. The letter written by the victim was difficult to read. It was very raw and emotional. Her details of the actual raping incident are few, but her description of the aftermath is meticulous. The majority of the article is the letter dictated by the victim of her experience so there is that clear bias. The parts of the article that are written by the news reporter, Katie Baker still seem to have a bias leaning in favor of the victim. It might be because the reporter is a woman and feels for the victim, but parts of her article seem sarcastic when talking about Turner. For example, when she writes about how Turner had hoped to swim in the Olympics one day or when the defendants’ attorney points out that the victim had “eagerly consented.” The article takes an emotional approach to the situation when it specifies the repercussions it had on the victim. During the victims’ letter, she fairly depicts some statements …show more content…
In specific states like California and Florida, when someone commits a sex crime, they are put on the registry forever. The point of the registry is for the public to see if anyone potentially dangerous is living among them. Schaffer explains in her article that the idea of being put on the sex registry for life has become a big debate whether it is ethical or not. Many advocates believe it is necessary to ensure the safety of their families. They also feel it will help keep these offenders in line since they know the police are aware of their presence at all times. The other side of the spectrum says that first time offenders, especially if they are younger, should not have to register for life. The recidivism rates for sex offenders are glaringly high, which could potentially be dangerous and lead to crimes against the offenders. Being on that list will also affect the offender’s chance of getting
1. “Here’s The Powerful Letter The Stanford Victim Read to Her Attacker" by Katie Baker
The emotional article starts out explaining what happened that fateful January 2015 night and then goes onto the lengthy letter the victim wrote addressing Brock Turner—the defendant—in court. The victim, now 23 years old, speaks about the night she wanted to do something with her sister that was visiting for the weekend. They eventually decided to go to a fraternity party on the Stanford campus. After the victim was separated from her sister and drank too much, she was escorted out of the party by Brock Turner. Turner claimed that the victim came willingly and gave consent to go back to his room. The next thing that the victim remembers was waking up in a hospital room. She explains that she was told she had been found unconscious behind a dumpster and had been raped. She details her experience of going through a rape kit test; how the nurses took swabs, pictures, and probed her vagina. When she got home, she didn’t tell her family or boyfriend about the ordeal. She states, “I would see the fear on their faces, and mine would multiply by tenfold, so instead I pretended the whole thing wasn’t real.” The victim tells of how the traumatic incident destroyed her emotionally; “I would drive to a secluded place to scream. I didn’t talk, I didn’t eat, I didn’t sleep, I didn’t interact with anyone, and I became isolated.” After a while, she, along with the rest of the world, found out what happened to her through the media. This was the first time she heard of Brock Turner and the two bicyclists that saved her by intervening and stopping Turner. Then came the trial. Turner was facing up to 14 years for the assault but the judge gave leniency to the defendant. The judge agreed with letters written by friends and family of Turner that a long sentence would have a “severe impact” on him therefore, the judge gave Turner 6 months. The victim expresses how hurt she is with the “gentle” sentence but she assures Turner that this has sparked a fire in the hearts of people all over the world. The letter written by the victim was difficult to read. It was very raw and emotional. Her details of the actual raping incident are few, but her description of the aftermath is meticulous. The majority of the article is the letter dictated by the victim of her experience so there is that clear bias. The parts of the article that are written by the news reporter, Katie Baker still seem to have a bias leaning in favor of the victim. It might be because the reporter is a woman and feels for the victim, but parts of her article seem sarcastic when talking about Turner. For example, when she writes about how Turner had hoped to swim in the Olympics one day or when the defendants’ attorney points out that the victim had “eagerly consented.” The article takes an emotional approach to the situation when it specifies the repercussions it had on the victim. During the victims’ letter, she fairly depicts some statements …show more content…
In specific states like California and Florida, when someone commits a sex crime, they are put on the registry forever. The point of the registry is for the public to see if anyone potentially dangerous is living among them. Schaffer explains in her article that the idea of being put on the sex registry for life has become a big debate whether it is ethical or not. Many advocates believe it is necessary to ensure the safety of their families. They also feel it will help keep these offenders in line since they know the police are aware of their presence at all times. The other side of the spectrum says that first time offenders, especially if they are younger, should not have to register for life. The recidivism rates for sex offenders are glaringly high, which could potentially be dangerous and lead to crimes against the offenders. Being on that list will also affect the offender’s chance of getting