When a Fight Against Sexual Assault Bolstered Mass Incarceration
Jacobin, March 26, 2023: When a Fight Against Sexual Assault Bolstered Mass Incarceration
“[Brock] Turner was facing up to fourteen years in prison, but Judge Persky only sentenced him to six months in jail, as well as mandatory registry as a sex offender. Television commentators described the sentence as a ‘slap on the wrist for a privileged, white sexual offender at an elite university.’ The blond-haired Stanford student, a star athlete on the school’s swim team, had gotten a few months; others with less privilege have received, for example, a life sentence for selling thirty dollars’ worth of marijuana.
“Turner was released on September 2, 2016, after three months behind bars, an early release on account of good behavior. Outcry once again broke out: protesters greeted him outside the Santa Clara County jail upon his release. Hours after Turner’s release, another rally was held outside of the jail demanding the recall of Judge Persky. Nearly two years later, Persky became the first California judge to be recalled in more than eighty years, with 62 percent of voters favoring his recall.
“The Recall: Reframed is a short documentary by Rebecca Richman Cohen that takes issue with the ‘Recall Persky’ campaign. The film, now streaming on NBC’s Peacock platform, features interviews with people close to the Turner case who opposed the recall, arguing that while the campaign was done under the guise of a feminist push to rectify the justice system’s failure to treat sexual crimes with the gravity that they deserve, it actually became an impediment to substantive justice.”
Additional reading:
The Feminist War on Crime: The Unexpected Role of Women's Liberation in Mass Incarceration by Aya Gruber on bookshop.org
Screen Comment, March 23, 2023: The paths to justice are manifold. Reimagining prison sentencing with “THE RECALL: REFRAMED” dir. by Rebecca Richman Cohen
