You read the headlines, saw the news and heard the ruling: Stanford rapist gets six months. But what really happened during those six months?

On January 18, 2015, Brock Turner, a student athlete at Stanford University, sexually assaulted a 22-year-old girl behind a dumpster. According to CNN, the victim, who has remained anonymous, was unconscious during the assault. Her unconsciousness alerted two international students from Sweden who were passing by. The Swedish students intervened and chased Turner down until police arrived.

The trial started on March 14, 2016, a little over a year after Turner was arrested for suspicion of rape and released on $150,000 bail.

Turner was convicted of sexual assault that carried the potential of 14 years in prison, although prosecutors recommended six years with probation.

Instead of the suggested time, Aaron Persky, the judge overseeing the case, sentenced Turner to six months of prison time and three years probation. Directly after his decision, Persky got a large amount of backlash for the length of Turner’s sentence.

According to the New York Times, Persky only gave Turner six months because any more would “have a severe impact on him.”

There has been mounting backlash against the justice system for cases like these, including by some students at Hershey High School.

Despite the adverse responses Persky has received, he has not released any public statements regarding the length of the sentence.

“Why is the judge worrying about how he [Turner] feels?” said HHS sophomore Maliyah Paynter, “He’s not the one who was completely violated.”

Paynter also wondered why Turner got such a short sentence. According to a survey taken by 20 HHS students, sexism and white privilege were thought to have the largest influence on Persky’s decision. Paynter agreed heavily with those who said white privilege had an impact.

Paynter said, “If that were a black man who raped that girl, he would have gotten multiple years in jail and be called a horrible person.”

Jason Margulies of Newsweek agrees with Paynter and said, “If Turner were poor, and especially poor and minority, his sentence would have been considerably more severe and he would not have escaped prison.”

During the hearing, the victim addressed Turner directly through a 13-page letter. In her letter, the victim acknowledged that the questions she was asked sounded accusatory.

The victim said, “This was a game of strategy, as if I could be tricked out of my own worth. The sexual assault had been so clear, but instead, here I was at the trial, answering questions like: how old are you? How much do you weigh? What did you eat that day? Well what did you have for dinner? Who made dinner? Did you drink with dinner? No, not even water? When did you drink? How much did you drink? What container did you drink out of?”

She continued listing questions that asked what she was wearing, if she would ever cheat on her boyfriend, and if she partied at frats in college.

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office put out a statement following Turner’s release that said, “If we had our way, Brock Turner would be in state prison serving a six year sentence, not going home.”