Brock Turner case: Justice shouldn’t be put to a public vote

To the editor: The father’s comments about “a steep price for 20 minutes of action” certainly did not make the judge’s sentencing decision for convicted sex offender Brock Turner, the Stanford student who assaulted an unconscious woman, any easier. However, your editorial is absolutely correct: Justice in any individual case isn’t put to a public vote. (“Criminal sentencing decisions belong to judges, not the outraged public — even in the Stanford sexual assault case,” editorial, June 8)

The public can second-guess a judge’s sentence all it wants. But at the end of the day, it is solely the judge’s burden to attempt to balance all of the mitigating and aggravating factors of a case, many of which are incorporated in the probation report, and determine what form of justice should be meted out to the individual before him or her.

Dennis Sakai, Laguna Beach

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To the editor: If the discretion of a “trained and experienced judge” is to be considered just, training should include university courses in psychology and attendance of therapy groups for rape, sexual assault and child molestation victims before being appointed to the bench.

Following these courses, and after witnessing the anguish of the survivors in these groups, only then should a judge’s discretion be respected.

Barbara Lorenz, La Jolla

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To the editor: The juxtaposition of Turner’s light sentence with that of another star athlete, Cory Batey of Vanderbilt University, is jarring. Turner received six months in county jail, while Batey — like Turner, convicted of sexually assaulting an intoxicated female student — is serving 15 to 25 years in state prison.

Of course, Turner is white; Batey is black.

Eric Forster, Beverly Hills

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