When a California judge sentenced a Stanford University swimmer found guilty of sexual assault to six months in jail, many saw the verdict as too lenient. Outrage spread across the country, particularly among those who felt it was the latest proof of a criminal justice system stacked against women who have been victims of sexual violence.

But now, nearly two years later, the case has provoked another wave of outrage, this time from a surprising corner. A grass-roots effort to remove the judge for lenient sentencing has exposed sharp fissures within activist circles, with victims’ rights advocates who are leading the charge pitted against others who worry the effort could cut against efforts to decrease high imprisonment rates in the United States.

The judge, Aaron Persky of Santa Clara County, drew national condemnation in 2016 when he sentenced Brock Turner, a Stanford swimmer, to six months in jail for three felony counts of sexual assault — far from the 14-year maximum he could have given Mr. Turner for assaulting an incapacitated young woman behind a Dumpster.

The impassioned statement delivered by the victim before sentencing drew global attention, and for many, the case came to symbolize the barriers to justice often faced by women and assault victims in the courts.