Brock Turner, the former Stanford student who was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, will never be allowed to compete in a USA Swimming–sanctioned event, the organization confirmed to USA Today on Thursday.
Nicole Auerbach reported for USA Today:
“Brock Turner’s membership with USA Swimming expired at the end of the calendar year 2014,” USA Swimming spokesman Scott Leightman said in an email to USA TODAY Sports. “He was not a member at the time of his crime or since then. USA Swimming doesn’t have any jurisdiction over non-members.
“Brock Turner is not a member of USA Swimming and, should he apply, he would not be eligible for membership. … Had he been a member, he would be subject to the USA Swimming Code of Conduct. USA Swimming strictly prohibits and has zero tolerance for sexual misconduct, with firm Code of Conduct policies in place, and severe penalties, including a permanent ban of membership, for those who violate our Code of Conduct.”
Since USA Swimming is the main organization for competitive swimming in America, this effectively ends Turner’s career as an elite competitive swimmer.
In some ways, this shows how Turner’s short six-month sentence has backfired. Judge Aaron Persky said a longer sentence would have had a “severe impact” on Turner’s future. But because the short sentence triggered such outrage, especially after a letter from the unnamed victim went viral, Turner’s name is now linked to an act of rape more than anything else — and it’s even led to an on-record statement from USA Swimming that effectively bars him from restarting his swimming career once he’s released.
Then again, it’s likely that, regardless of all the outrage, Turner would have faced such consequences anyway. After all, even with Turner’s privilege, people with criminal records tend to have a much harder time getting a job. Those consequences are even worse for people, like Turner, who are forced to register as sex offenders.
But the outrage over Turner’s short sentence certainly makes his case more public — and perhaps exacerbates the “collateral consequences” of a criminal record that ex-convicts typically face.
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