true crime

Brock Turner's prison sentence wasn't harsh enough. But this punishment is far worse.

He may have served just three months in prison for the violent sexual assault of a woman in 2015, but thanks to Professor Callie Marie Rennison, former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner will not be forgotten anytime soon.

Appearing in the recently published Introduction to Criminal Justice, 2nd Edition, a university textbook currently being used by students at the University of Colorado is an image of Turner and the sub-heading ‘Rape’.

The image used is Turner’s mug shot released by the Stanford Department of Public Safety.

brock turner textbook
Brock Turner on Page 20 of the Introduction to Criminal Justice textbook. Source: Imgur.
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In 2015, Turner committed three acts of sexual assault against an unnamed woman behind a dumpster while on the Stanford University campus. Turner was discovered assaulting the woman - who was unconscious - by two international students who called the police.

In 2016, the case garnered huge attention and sparked a worldwide debate about the ongoing problem of sexual assault on university campuses and how the law treats offenders.

The victim's statement was published all over the world, and read by millions.

During the trial, Turner's father pleaded for leniency against his son, asking that he not be too harshly punished for "20 minutes of action".

Ultimately, Turner was found guilty of committing three sexual assault crimes by a jury but was sentenced to just six months in prison by a local Judge - a decision that sparked protests across the United States of America.

His inclusion in Professor Rennison's textbook made waves earlier this week when an image of the textbook page was shared on image sharing site Imgur alongside the comment, "He may have been able to get out of prison time but in my Criminal Justice 101 textbook, Brock Turner is the definition of rape, so he's got that goin for him."

brock turner textbook
Brock Turner in court with his father. Source: Getty.
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In creating the textbook, Rennison herself said, "Existing criminal justice books have focused on three elements: cops, courts and corrections. They speak little about victims, reflecting how they have effectively been in the shadows of our criminal justice system. In our book, victims are front and center with equal emphasis as cops, courts and corrections. This is the way it should be."

Here's to decades of students learning about the crimes of Brock Turner.