Liberty and Justice for All

The more recent arrest and prosecution of Stanford student, Brock Turner, who is guilty of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman and was given a six-month jail sentence, has stirred up a great deal of controversy in America’s households. The judge in this case, Aaron Persky, thought it would be harsh to impose anything higher than a six-month sentence. He was quoted saying that, “A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him, I think he will not be a danger to others.” Judge Aaron Persky of the Santa Clara County Superior Court is a Stanford University alumni and was a star athlete during his time there. Which dons the question, was Persky persuaded by Turner’s athletic and academic background? Persky was once a criminal prosecutor where fighting sexual assault, and other sex crimes were a top priority for him and he prided himself on being tough on rape.
Earlier this year, Persky sentenced 32-year-old Raul Ramirez, an immigrant from El Salvador, who admitted to sexually assaulting his roommate, to a three-year prison sentence a part of a plea agreement. These are parallel cases that involve similar actions and have very different outcomes, which is just another example of our unjust justice system. There are countless judges like Persky out there who are only going to think one sided. It is up to our generation and the generations after us to pick up the pieces of our corrupt justice system and correct the damage left behind by our broken and biased legal system.
The only way we can fix this and bring justice to our millions of victims is to educate ourselves on current and past mistakes made by our present day leaders in the system. Instead of boasting our beliefs on social media and at rallies we need to show our support by taking it to the polls and vote for who we believe in, and who we think will make a difference in our country. Recent surveys have shown that more teens and young adults are making a dent in the political and legal world by voting and running for places of leadership in their cities and towns. Many people wonder why our justice and legal system is the way it is now. Why policemen and women can kill unarmed minorities without legal precautions or consequences? Why convicted rapists can be sentenced to jail for a couple of months then set free to commit more crimes? The answer to these questions are the men, and women at the head of our justice system. If we want to make a difference in our country, the first step is voting them out of office and voting in candidates that are truly committed to the cause, and who make it their life duty to govern the right way and bring justice to criminals. I would never try to tell people who to vote for or who to like, but in order for our country to become what it was meant to be there needs to be serious changes.