The following lesson activity is based on the article “Light Sentence for Brock Turner in Stanford Rape Case Draws Outrage.”
Before Reading
Imagine you’re a judge who decides what sentence a defendant should receive after being found guilty by a jury.
What factors would you take into account? What factors would you not take into account? How would you make sure the punishment is fair — not too lenient, but not too harsh either?
If it helps to make this exercise more concrete, you can think of different types of cases, such as robbery, rape or murder.
After Reading
Answer the questions, supporting your responses by citing evidence from the text.
1. Why was a recall effort against a California judge initiated? What were members of the public angry about?
2. What sentence did the judge hand Brock Allen Turner after a jury found him guilty of three felony counts related to sexual assault?
3. What are some of the ways that the news media publicized the story?
4. Why does the victim feel that the sentence is a “mockery of the seriousness of his assaults”?
5. Why does Michele Dauber, a law professor and sociologist at Stanford, think the judge misapplied the law?
6. How did Mr. Turner’s father try to justify that his son should not do jail time for the sexual assault?
7. Based on your knowledge of the case, do you think the judge’s sentence is fair? Why?
Going Further
A Change.org petition backing Judge Aaron Persky’s removal had collected more than 650,000 signatures by Wednesday.
But Room for Debate asks: Should judges be subject to recall because of an unpopular sentence or would that impede their independence?
Read the arguments made by the debaters. Then weigh in: What do you think? Write your own argument that fits with the Room for Debate format.
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