By Tyler Curran
On September 2nd, 2016, convicted sex offender Brock Turner was released from jail after serving just three months of a six-month sentence he was handed after being found guilty of three sexual felonies. This light punishment was met with significant public backlash, with many wondering whether the sentence was lessened due to Turner’s social and economic status. The case as a whole brought an important question into the public eye: Why are socially “elite” people often given lighter punishments for their crimes?
Despite the fact that it has recently become more public, this issue is not a new one. For decades, people of higher economic, social, or racial standing have been receiving lighter punishments for criminal charges, if they receive any punishment at all. The topic was even touched upon in Victor Hugo’s epic novel Les Miserables, where Hugo showed how easy it can be for higher-ups in society to escape criminal punishment. Writing in and about 19th century France, Hugo recognized and criticized the fact that those with social privilege tended to be treated with more leniency, and this is still the case today. It is the fact that those deemed “elite” today can still escape fair punishment under the law with relative ease that prevents us from being an equal society. Our society will never be truly equal until we have just punishments being handed out for criminal charges regardless of race, class, gender, or economic status.
After being convicted of three separate criminal charges, including sexual assault, Turner was released from jail after three months, raising serious questions. This, however, was by no means the first instance of a powerful figure escaping harsh criminal punishment. In a research gathering effort by CNN, they discovered 52 cases of Division 1 athletes being investigated for sexual violence in the past 20 years, with only 13 of these cases resulting in prison or jail time (CNN). If we are to consider top-tier collegiate athletes “social elites” in this case, it is clear that they often are not persecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
This contrast between punishments can be seen all too frequently in the courts. A prime example of this bias can be seen when looking at a case similar to Turner’s that had the same judge, Aaron Persky. In a 2016 case that Persky presided over where the defendant was convicted of sexual assault, Persky distributed a sentence of three years in state prison, six times the sentence he assigned Turner. The defendant in this case was from El Salvador, needed an interpreter in court, and was of a very different social status than Turner (Guardian).
Victor Hugo highlighted this type of injustice with the tragic Fantine in his novel Les Miserables. After most of the character’s tragic descent into poverty, prostitution, and misery, her fate is sealed when a member of the bourgeois attacks her. In self-defense, she fights him back. When the policeman arrives, he arrests Fantine without even listening to her side of the story. Later, in the police station, Fantine is on the ground, sobbing, pleading, and begging the Inspector Javert “I ask for your pity. I assure you that I was not in the wrong,” (Hugo 190). Fantine goes on to explain how the man, Monsieur Bamatabois, threw snow down her back, which prompted her to attack him. As soon as she concludes her testimony, Javert merely repeats her prison sentence as if he had not heard her cries. When Jean Valjean, in the guise of the mayor (“M. Madeleine”) of the town, demands that Fantine be let free, Javert objects on behalf of the bourgeois, explaining vehemently how “This girl fell upon Monsieur Bamatabois, who can vote and owns that fine house with a balcony at the corner of the esplanade,” (Hugo 196). As his defense of the citizen, Javert cites his social standing, and conveys the idea that the attacking of one in a higher social class is clear cause for punishment of the poor, no matter the circumstance. Although this comparison has some flaws, as a prejudiced arrest is different than a lightened sentence, the message Hugo is trying to convey is all too clear. Within his story, Hugo was showing how unfair the justice system can be when dealing with people of different social strata.
Congress needs to pass legislation that ensures bias-free consistency when sentencing criminals. California has already taken steps in the right direction since the Brock Turner case, instituting a three-year mandatory minimum sentence for anyone convicted of penetrating an intoxicated or unconscious person (Los Angeles Times). With more laws like this put into effect, instituting minimum sentences for particularly harsh crimes, the judicial system could begin to do away with the injustices within the justice system, putting us one step closer to having a truly equal society.