Judge Aaron Persky is the difference.

The difference is that, unlike progressive California, Tennessee hasn't gone soft on mandatory minimum sentences. In fact, the Judge sounded not the different too Persky, and gave the defendant the minimum allowable jail term.

As for factual differences, this was a gang rape, this was a racially motivated hate crime, with penetration, and the defendant sentenced today urinated on the victim's face.

I do not in any way agree with or condone the Judge's decision
in the Stanford case.
How about some comparisons or the facts of the cases.
Rape does not mean just one thing or a single circumstance.
This is a kind of cheap fast post to provoke people into arguing,
not a reasonable discussion of the issues ... at least until you can
make a sensible case based on the facts of the cases.

@Plane Speaker- I meant the question seriously. The facts from the perspective of the victims in both cases to the individual rapists seem similar: both rapists were unknown to the victims, the victims were unconscious when the rapes occurred, the rapes occurred for a similar amount of time, photos were taken in both cases. @john_alderman makes a good point about mandatory minimum sentencing. I've read that Brock Turner will be released in September. I can't imagine being the victim and not being giving even a few years to begin healing without looking over my shoulder, knowing my attacker was "out there". When I saw the headline about the Vanderbilt player's sentence, I was confused so I posted the question.

Sarah,

I thought the same way as you, when I read the headlines. However, the cases are quite different, as I found out when I Googled the two cases. It is worth the effort on your part, just to answer your own questions.

The cases may be different but the result is the same for both victims - a horrific, life altering event that they can never fully move past. Although the Vanderbilt case may be worse from the perpetrator's standpoint because it was racially motivated, the fact that the black student received 15 years and the white student received 6 months is unbelievable.

@Equally terrible You explain it well. I would imagine that a rape is a rape for the victim. A moment in time where your world unretrievably shifts. And shouldn't the punishment be for causing that shift to occur?