Aaron Persky is the first judge to be recalled from his bench since 1932
When it comes to society’s general treatment of sexual assault survivors, there’s no shortage of evidence that a complete cultural and judicial overhaul is long overdue. The pressing need for a collective moral makeover became even more apparent in 2016 when Judge Aaron Persky took a controversial and lenient approach to sentencing Brock Turner, a Stanford University student who was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster in 2015.
Turner faced a possible 14 years in prison, but escaped a more severe sentence thanks to Persky, who opted for a light-handed ruling that basically amounted to a shoulder shrug and a half-hearted lecture, making the judge appear more like a sexual assault apologist than someone who swore to uphold the law. The subsequent public outrage made it clear that Turner’s crime certainly warranted more than the punishment he received: six months in county jail, three years on probation and his name on a sex offender registry for life. It also served as one of the more prominent examples of why sexual assault victims don’t file police reports: the significant lack of trust that the system will act in their best interests.
Luckily, two years after that horrifying ruling and a fruitless review of the ruling by the California Commission on Judicial Performance, residents of California’s Santa Clara County recently voted to remove Persky from the bench. The move is major in that it is the first time that a California judge has been recalled since 1932, an act that shortened Persky’s tenure—set to end in 2022—by four years. It also represents a slight bit of redemption for those who have been repeatedly failed by an extremely flawed judicial process.
“It may be tempting to disregard Persky’s removal as a ‘too little, too late’ gesture masquerading as major progress, but it’s important to acknowledge it as a collective part of a growing movement.”
Additionally, Persky’s removal marks one of many wins on behalf of advocates, sexual assault survivors and ordinary citizens who’ve thrown their support behind the tireless efforts to make our legal system do right by those who have been maligned for being victims of violence while their attackers escape with little or no consequence.
It may be tempting to disregard Persky’s removal as a “too little, too late” gesture masquerading as major progress, but it’s important to acknowledge it as a collective part of a growing movement to stop the systemic protection of sexual predators, particularly those in positions of privilege. Recently, a UC Berkeley staff member was fired for violating sexual violence and harassment policy, which is notable considering that in many instances, companies’ human resources departments frequently fail to adequately investigate sexual harassment cases.
Then there’s Pitchfork’s partnership with the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence nonprofit organization. In May, the music publication announced its collaboration with RAINN, which brought public attention to its written sexual assault and harassment policy and a newly implemented response and report center available to Pitchfork Music Festival attendees. Also, Lyft and Uber—which as of April, faced 103 accusations of sexual assault or abuse by its drivers—have both agreed to stop forcing sexual assault victims into arbitration.
These developments may not provide much solace for survivors like Emily Doe—the woman attacked by Turner—but they reinforce the message that we are not completely powerless against perpetrators and a system that is historically complicit in enabling sexual predators.
Opponents of the decision to recall Persky believe that it undermines our justice system, but that should also be regarded as another positive development to arise from this situation. The American justice system is far from well-oiled and flawless. Let us not forget that this is the same system that routinely sentences innocent people to lengthy prison terms and supports for-profit prisons. And despite the U.S. incarceration rate recently reaching a 20-year low, it still incarcerates a “larger share of its population than any other country,” according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Ultimately, our judicial system must be held accountable by the citizens it is tasked with protecting, and if that means making sure that it employs lawmakers who refuse to coddle sexual assault perpetrators, then we’re absolutely heading in the right direction.