Jared Fogle, Spokesman for Subway restaurants, has reached a plea deal with prosecutors according to Al Jazeera America. The article reports that Jared has agreed to plead guilty in exchange for not serving over 12.5 years or less than 5 years in prison. He also will be paying 1.4 million dollars to 14 survivors of his sexual abuse. Fogle will see jail time, which is rare in the case of sexual predators. However, that is not enough considering the gravity of the deep and long-lasting pain he has caused.
The survivors of Jared's disgusting criminal sexual abuse are experiencing something most survivors never do; as semblance of justice. In cases of sexual violence, most survivors who do seek help never get any type of justice (https://rainn.org/get-information/statistics/reporting-rates). That means that the 14 survivors took a huge personal risk for telling their stories with only a small shot at putting Jared away and preventing him from doing it again.
Yet, even their justice was slight. The 14 survivors will receive about $100,000 each for a total pay out from Jared of $1.4 million. Jared has a net worth of about $15 million and yet is paying a very small amount considering the trauma he has caused for his repeated rapes. Donald Trump asked "Who's doing the raping?" I submit that men like Jared Fogle are! Furthermore, they are getting away with it often. In addition to a relatively light fine, Jared also won't serve more than 12.5 years in prison. This is despite the fact that term doesn't even equate to at least 1 year in prison per survivor. The sentencing is yet to come, but Jared can rest easy knowing that he has avoided paying the full price for his heinous deeds.
Jared's recompense for his transgressions is an example of how even intersectionality can be used for to protect certain people in this country. Many understand the ways in which intersectionality plays a role in harsher treatment and punishment of various people in the U.S. However, intersectionality can also have a strong protective effect. Since perpetrators like Fogle and Josh Duggar are White (1), Male (2), Straight (3) and Wealthy (4), they are able to skip the types of ramifications of large criminal acts that a Latino, Poor Trans Woman might experience in this country for small offenses. Some people may take solace in the knowledge that inmates typically attack and rape pedophiles in prison. But what if the justice system worked the way it should and people didn't have to wish for horrible things like that to happen in order to balance the scale of justice that our judicial system intentionally left off kilter?