Survivor Of Brock Turner Rape Case Is Writing A Book About Her Experience

Her memoir will be on bookstore shelves this fall

The woman who survived being raped by Brock Turner, known only as ‘Emily Doe,’ is writing a book about the harrowing experience. You may recall she first used the power of her words to write a gut-wrenching victim impact statement about her rape back when the case was first making headlines. Now, her official memoir will be published this fall.

The memoir will be put forth by Viking Books. Editor-in-chief of Viking Books, Andrea Schulz, gave a statement in a press release explaining why society needs Doe’s book: “Emily Doe’s experience illuminates a culture built to protect perpetrators and a criminal justice system designed to fail the most vulnerable,” Schulz says. “The book will introduce readers to the writer whose words have already changed their world and move them with its accounting of her courage and resilience.”

Back in early 2016, Turner, then a 20-year-old student at Stanford, was convicted on three counts of felony sexual assault. He raped Doe in 2015, according to multiple witnesses who saw him sexually assault her while she was unconscious behind a dumpster near an on-campus fraternity. When he was finally sentenced, Turner received a slap on the wrist — six months in jail, courtesy of California Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky.

Turner ended up only serving three months in jail. His early release led to citizens and elected officials protesting outside the Hall of Justice in San Jose, calling for Judge Persky to be recalled. Stanford law professor Michele Dauber led the recall efforts and succeeded in getting 95,000 signatures on a petition within 160 days to put his recall to a vote in the next statewide election on June 5th. After a firestorm of outrage, California voted to recall Judge Persky for the way he botched the entire case by ultimately sympathizing with a rapist.

Doe’s details of the assault were excruciating to read, but because she shared them, the case captured the attention of the entire country. Her impact statement was 12 pages long, and it directly addressed Turner as her rapist: “You don’t know me, but you’ve been inside me, and that’s why we’re here today,” her letter began. “Your damage was concrete; stripped of titles, degrees, enrollment. My damage was internal, unseen, I carry it with me. You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today.”

While this entire case may make it feel like there’s no real justice for sexual assault victims in the world, the fact that Turner is featured in the literal definition of ‘rape’ in a college textbook helps soften the blow a bit. In the pages of Introduction to Criminal Justice, Second Edition, by Callie Marie Rennison, his mugshot photo is listed right by the term.

“Brock Turner, a Stanford student who raped and assaulted an unconscious female college student behind a dumpster at a fraternity party was recently released from jail after serving only three months,” the caption under Turner’s photo in the textbook reads.

Doe’s much-anticipated memoir will hit bookshelves in September.