'Knees Together' Judge Apologizes, Quits

Canadian council voted to remove Robin Camp
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 10, 2017 1:20 AM CST
'Knees Together' Judge Apologizes, Quits
"Why couldn’t you just keep your knees together?" Camp asked the young woman.   (Andrew Balfour/Federal Court of Canada)

A judge who asked a 19-year-old woman why she couldn't have just kept her legs together to prevent being raped has quit rather than be forced out. Justice Robin Camp resigned from the Federal Court of Canada Thursday after members of the country's judicial watchdog voted 19 to 4 in favor of removing him, the CBC reports. In widely condemned remarks during the 2014 rape trial, Camp repeatedly referred to the complainant as "the accused" and wondered why she hadn't done more to fight off the 240-pound defendant. When she testified that the incident had been painful, Camp, who acquitted the defendant, said, "Sex and pain sometimes go together, that's not necessarily a bad thing."

Camp, after admitting that his thinking was "infected" with "stereotypical beliefs and discredited myths," fought hard to keep his job, attending counseling classes and publicly apologizing to the defendant, but the Canadian Judicial Council determined that his conduct had undermined public confidence so much that he was "incapable of executing the judicial office," the Globe and Mail reports. "I would like to express my sincere apology to everyone who was hurt by my comments," Camp said, per CTV News. The rape complainant, who told a hearing last year that she hated herself and considered suicide after Camp's comments, said the council's decision made her feel a lot more hopeful about the justice system. (More rape stories.)

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