Textbook showing Brock Turner's mug shot next to section on rape will be revised, publisher says

Turner was found guilty on felony assault charges.

ByABC News
September 15, 2017, 2:20 PM

— -- A publisher is planning to revise one of its criminal law textbooks after it included a picture of Brock Turner next to a section about the definition of rape.

Turner, a former Stanford University student who was found guilty on felony assault charges, was never charged with rape. California law specifies that for a crime to be categorized as rape it must involve sexual intercourse, and Turner's crime did not meet that standard.

He spent three months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on the university's campus, sparking outrage for what was viewed by some as a lenient sentence. He was released in September 2016.

The textbook in question, "Introduction to Criminal Justice: Systems, Diversity, and Change," printed Turner's mug shot next to a section about rape, but now the authors "have reviewed the text" and will be making changes in the next edition, according to the publisher.

The change comes after a college student posted a picture of the page from her textbook featuring Turner online, which went viral likely due to the controversy of the case and the three months that Turner served as punishment.

"He may have been able to get out of prison time but in my Criminal Justice 101 textbook, Brock Turner is the definition of rape, so he's got that goin for him," the student wrote.

Turner's case created national uproar in 2015 when he was arrested after assaulting an unconscious woman after a college party.

Turner, now 22, was found guilty in March 2016 of three felony charges: assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated/unconscious person, penetration of an intoxicated person and penetration of an unconscious person.

He was facing up to 14 years in prison and prosecutors had asked for six years, but Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Turner to just six months in jail and three years of probation, as recommended by the probation department. Turner ended up serving three months.

The textbook's publisher, SAGE Publishing, released a statement Thursday to address the future changes.

"The statutory definitions of rape in the State of California (where Turner was convicted of three charges of felony sexual assault) differ from those of the FBI. Turner’s actions, as determined by the California jury, fit the standards for the FBI definition of rape, as well as certain other state definitions, but not the California definition as of the time of the final book manuscript. The authors and publisher will further clarify the differing definitions of rape in California compared to the FBI in future reprints of the book," the publisher's statement reads.

Turner's lawyer and parents did not return ABC News's requests for comment.

The Facebook post that has a picture of the current version of the textbook shows that the caption beneath Turner's mug shot raises questions for the reader.

"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 that he was found guilty and served any time at all. What do you think?" the end of the caption reads.

The Facebook post has been shared more than 100,000 times since it was first published on Sept. 7 and has prompted more than 4,400 comments.