Judge to woman in rape case: 'Why couldn't you just keep your knees together?'
Summary: A Canadian judge was just recently called out for his involvement in a 2014 rape case in which he made several extremely insensitive comments about the event and acquitted the man charged with the crime. After letting the man go he told him to tell his male friends "to be far more gentle with women. They have to be far more patient. And
they have to be very careful. To protect themselves, they have to be
very careful." He apologized at his hearing but still faces the possibility of being removed from the bench.
Analysis: I think that it is a great step forward for a judge to be called out for making such cruel and sexist comments. It is easy to lose faith in the modern judiciary system with cases like People v. Turner treating the defendant as the victim and giving reduced sentencing. Modern day racist and sexist sentencing can be connected to colonial times where slaves were often charged for the rapes of white women which they were accused of but did not actually commit.
Judges that treat the defendant as the victim make me so upset. I agree with you when you said this was a good step forward for the judiciary system. This is super important, especially with cases like Brock Turner in the news right now.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you about the need of more sensitivity in the judiciary system. It is awful that victims in cases aren't taken seriously, not only with female victims, but male rape victims, who's voices are rarely heard.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, this is super upsetting that someone who has such control over the fate of rapists and their victims would say things like this. I totally agree with you, that this is a really good step forward on fixing the problems with rape cases, and like Gracie said, especially with cases like Brock Turner in the news right now.
ReplyDeleteIt's so saddening that people in the world still have this type of sexist mind set, especially a figure of power. Telling someone, who has most likely traumatized another person by rape, to "be more careful" completely dismissed the point of the case.
ReplyDeleteThis article is very shocking. I don't think this should every happen to anyone. I totally agree with your points in this article.
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