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Brock Turner's Mug Shot Now Appears Next to Legal Definition of ‘Rape' in Law Textbook

The mug shot of Brock Turner, the convicted sexual assaulter from Stanford University in 2016, now appears in a college textbook as the definition of “rape.”

An image of Turner in the textbook was posted on Facebook by Washington State University student, Hannah Shum, who made the discovery while working on homework for her Criminal Justice 101 class. The post has since gone viral with more than 100,000 shares.

In 2016, Turner faced a 10-year conviction in the Santa Clara County Superior Court on three counts of sexual assault but only served three months of a six-month sentence in jail. 

“He may have been able to get out of prison time,” said Shum in her Facebook post. “But in my Criminal Justice 101 textbook, Brock Turner is the definition of rape, so he’s got that goin’ for him.”

The caption beneath Brock’s mug shot states:

“Brock Turner, a Stanford student who rapped and assaulted an unconscious female college student behind a dumpster at a fraternity party, was recently released from jail after serving only three months. Some are shocked at how short this sentence is. Others who are more familiar with the way sexual violence has been handled in the criminal justice system are shocked he was found guilty and served any time at all. What do you think?”

The authors of the textbook “Introduction to Criminal Justice: Systems, Diversity, and Change,” are Callie Marie Rennison and Mary Dodge, both law professors at the University of Colorado.

NBC Bay Area has reached out to the authors for further comment.

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