Really? Judges are supposed to say things like, “oh, you have anxiety? Well, you haven’t seen anxiety yet!”to say, abuse victims right before tossing them in the slammer?? Give me a fucking break. Judges are supposed to act like professionals too, not taunting mean girls.

Most people in abusive situations are heavily pressured into pressing charges. As an abused child and subsequent run away the only way to not be carted straight back to those monsters by the police was to press charges. I literally had no choice. For many people it’s the only way to get any kind of protection. On top…

Then she needs to take a vacation or something because all she’s managed to do is make it even LESS likely that women in that situation will even pick up the phone and call for help in the first place.

Newsworthy enough that it made news in the UK.

Having other options is not acting like a social worker. Being a decent human being is not fucking acting like a fucking goddamn social worker. FFS. And holy shit, if judges don’t actually consult available benchbooks or educate themselves even a little bit on the issues of the case, then what the hell are they doing?…

I’ve noticed a lot of local candidates, especially Judges, don’t mention their party affiliation at all. People tend to assume the women are Democrats.

This judge is the real life version of Dolores Umbridge, aka True Real Life Evil.

Unless she hired a lawyer, victims don’t have lawyers. In DV cases, the prosecutor should always be prepared to move forward without the victim. From other articles I’ve read, from the start she indicated that she wasn’t too keen on cooperating, which is even more reason the prosecutors should’ve been prepared to…

/reads comment

Wasn’t it in Florida where a cop was cleared of rape about a week ago, although he asked the woman to have sex with him at gunpoint? Apparently the judge decided the victim had some sort of fetish of being raped by a cop so the guy did her a favor. No kidding.

I had to stand before a judge once with a doctors note for my dying father explaining why he couldn't show up to TRAFFIC court and she was was honestly the meanest person I've ever dealt with - and I'm a retail manager. I think judges suck.

This woman needed a victim advocate for the SAO to assist her and coordinate w/ prosecutors. This judge should be held in contempt for being a complete asshole.

If the judge’s contempt stems from frustration that victims often drop complaints, she did the absolute worst thing she could have done. Victims are already terrified to press charges; the judge just announced to victims everywhere that the very worst thing they can ever do is seek help through the legal system,…

Judges need to be trained to not exascerbate those in compromised mental states. People with PTSD *can’t just suck it up* (as the teaPartiers falsely believe.)

It’s really not, though. I’ve worked in prosecution for years, and know many prosecutors. You can proceed with evidence based prosecution. Yes, it’s always better to have the victim or a witness available, but it’s really not nearly impossible to get a conviction without the victim. I’ve seen many prosecutors…

You make an excellent point. I half expected the judge to “break character” after coming down hard to prove a point and stress the importance of testifying. I thought she would vent her frustration and then let the woman go free.

Yeah, I’m a lawyer and I only barely knew who to vote for last election (because I knew the candidates for the two slots, sort of, and they seemed competent, I guess? by reputation?) (and because one of the long-shot opposing candidates had a website that was all THIS IS ME WITH MY GUN ARSENAL) (and even then I was…

One of my favorite symptoms of black robe syndrome is when the treat the lawyers like the scum of the earth, forgetting completely where they came from.

Perhaps 3 days in jail will help the judge contemplate her actions?

Out of curiosity, does anybody have data on elected judge states and domestic violence rates vs. appointed judge states?