Silke Jasso
A criminal justice student at Washington State University found Brock Turner’s mugshot next to the definition of rape in her textbook.
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“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,” Hannah Kendall Shuman wrote on Facebook, sharing a photo.
The textbook is “Introduction to Criminal Justice: Systems, Diversity, and Change 2nd Edition” by Callie Marie Rennison and Mary Dodge.
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Shuman, a criminal justice major and pre-law student from Tacoma, said it’s required text for her criminal justice class at Washington State University.
“I was really surprised,” Shuman said of finding Turner’s mugshot in her textbook. “I hate that case, the decision made was clearly so biased. It’s also a great learning tool for students to see how lightly rape is taken in the American legal system.”
Turner was convicted of sexual assault in California. He was released after serving three months of a six-month sentence.
Turner was accused of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman near a dumpster after a fraternity party. Graduate students spotted him while he was on top of her.
RELATED: After serving only three months of his sentence, Brock Turner registered as a sex offender
“Thank you to the two men who saved me, who I have yet to meet,” the victim wrote in a 12-page letter. “I sleep with two bicycles that I drew taped above my bed to remind myself there are heroes in this story. That we are looking out for one another. To have known all of these people, to have felt their protection and love, is something I will never forget.”
Turner got out early for good behavior in jail. Judge Aaron Persky made the decision to deviate from the minimum sentence of two years in prison.
KIRO-TV spoke with Callie Rennison, a professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver.
When asked why the Brock Turner case was included in the textbook, Rennison said the following:
When we set out to write this textbook, we wanted to incorporate many things we saw missing from existing texts including diversity, attention to victims, and contemporary topics. We also wanted to present a view of the real Criminal Justice system versus the ideal that is discussed in many other books. To accomplish this, we included contemporary topics and material that students routinely ask about. For example, students ask about human and sex trafficking – we included that. Students ask about careers such as being a crime analyst – we included that. Students ask about college student victimization/campus violence – we included that. And related to that topic, students ask about Mr. Turner.
Read more at KIRO-TV for the rest of that interview.
