After being convicted of sexual assault, former Stanford University student Brock Turner was sentenced to six months in prison. However, due to “good behavior” he was released in three months with a three month probation to follow his early release. As a nationally televised event, people across the nation were upset to hear initially of Turner’s early release and lack of punishment in general. 

As a form of delayed consequences that has hardly ever been seen, Turner ended up as the face of rape in a Michigan “Introduction to Criminal Justice: Systems, Diversity, and Change” college textbook.

Some are angry about Turner being the poster child for rape. Technically, he was not convicted of rape. The state of California, where he was tried, and the FBI have different standards and regulations for classifying what a rape is. What Turner did classifies as a rape under the FBI, but not under California law so he could only legally be charged with sexual assault. Pointing out this technicality, some people are calling for the book to be revised.

However, most are ecstatic about the “punishment” that Turner is receiving due to the lack of prison time he received. Turner, who has an active twitter account, has yet to comment on the situation. His latest tweet is about Stanford football, as the season started only a few weeks ago.

The textbook publishing company, SAGE publishing, due to the technicality of Turner officially not being charged with rape but instead with sexual assault, will revise their textbook in the next addition. Although this will limit damage, the textbook co-author has actually spoken out amongst all the talk, defending her decision to put Turner’s picture in the book, according to WCPO.com

In this day and age of social media, this form of unusual punishment is almost better than jail time. Although nothing can replace the impersonal jail cells, social media prolongs every punishment, especially a case that is as high profile as Brock Turner. He will never be able to live down the reputation of a rapist, and that’s how it should be.