Dear Future President,

Congratulations on your victory in the election. It was a long journey and I hope it turned out how you wanted it to. You must have many things to worry about in your new presidency and I understand that. But I just wanted to write to you what I want to be seen on your list of priorities. Over the past few years the number of sexual assaults have risen and their isn’t much being done by the government to stop it.

I would like to bring into the light the case of Brock Turner and how common his conviction is among sex offenders of his age and athleticism. A study conducted showed that based on 217 criminal complaints, over 54% of cases regarding sexual assault in the general population lead to conviction, while it’s about 31% for athletes arrested for sexual assault. I feel that we, the American people have been walking blindly down a road for to long and this information can lighten up the path and lead us to a changed way of thinking.

The case of Brock Turner affected many people, but most of those people were women, especially his victim. At the end of the trial she wrote a letter to Brock Turner that explained how what he did to her would affect her for the rest of her life and the rest of her families lives. She explains how going through the trial was hell to her mainly because she was unconscious at the time of the rape and because of that Brock could make up stories about what had happened even though they weren't true. She explained how the experience of being in the hospital and having her clothes taken away and questions asked was scarring and unforgettable. She explains that the questions she was asked she felt had nothing to do with the rape that occurred. And she felt powerless when the attorney told Brock to fill in the night that she didn’t remember.

In all of the articles I read and all the research I did on this subject, I noticed one commonality. They all either exclaimed disbelief at the 6 month sentence given to Brock Turner, outrage at the fact that he was released 3 months early, or the fact that this sort of sentence was not uncommon. This worries me. What if it was your daughter, or your granddaughter, or your sister, or your son, or your grandson, or your brother? It worries me because soon that women in college could be anyone. It could be me or you, or someone you love in that courtroom with a man or woman that violated them and gets away with it. It could be one of my friends. It could be someone I or you know.

Imagine lying on the ground powerless, unable to move because their is a man, who you could have never met before, violating you. You have never talked to him, never done anything to upset him, you just happen to be stumbling around because you had a few to many. The only thing that stops his actions are people walking by and thankfully glancing to their side to see these actions taking place. You can barely move once he runs. Then you spend many months trying to get the justice you think you deserve only to find that it’s nearly impossible to do so because of the treatment these assaulters are given if they happen to be in college and are an athlete. I feel that parameters should be put up so that this sort of lacks punishment towards college athletes just because they are athletes can’t happen anymore. Maybe that involves changing the judges trying these cases. Maybe that involves putting laws in place so this can’t happen anymore but I feel that it should be solved in some way. Sexual assault can happen anywhere, at any time, to anyone. I would like to see that not be the case. Thank you for reading.

Sincerely,

Finnley