California legislature votes to close loophole after Brock Turner sex assault case

California lawmakers voted unanimously this week to close a loophole in sexual assault law that allowed for a more lenient sentence in cases where the victim did not actively resist the assault. 

Rape is rape.- California assemblyperson Bill Dodd (D-Napa)

The move was inspired by the Brock Turner sexual assault case. Turner, a former elite swimmer at Stanford University, is set to be released on good behaviour Friday, after only three months behind bars for sexual assault. His was sentenced to six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, a sentence many considered lenient. 

California Assembly Member Bill Dodd co-wrote the bill to close the loophole. He spoke to As It Happens guest host Laura Lynch. 

"The current law provides that a defendant's use of force triggers a mandatory prison sentence," he says."However, when a victim is unconscious or severely intoxicated and unable to resist, there isn't the same sentencing requirement."

• RELATED: Stanford judge criticized for Brock Turner sentence removed from new sex assault case

"There shouldn't be a disparity between the two crimes. . . Rape is rape." 

He also expressed concern that lenient sentencing could "discourage other survivors from coming forward and sends the message that raping incapacitated victims is no big deal." 

His bill passed unanimously in the state legislature, but still needs to be signed by Governor Jerry Brown before becoming law. 

In the meantime, Dodd says he hopes that Turner "has learned a lesson . . . and really works to try and change the culture." 

• RELATED: The letter Brock Turner's victim read at his sentencing 

"At the end of the day, the poor young woman who had to go through that ordeal is still left thinking, 'Nobody protected me.'"