‘Knees together’ judge Robin Camp should lose job, committee finds

A judge who asked a complainant in a rape trial why she didn’t keep her knees together should be removed from the bench to repair the damage he caused to public confidence in the justice system, a committee set up by the Canadian Judicial Council has ruled, in a 5-0 vote.

The recommendation that Justice Robin Camp of the Federal Court of Appeal be removed from the bench now goes before the full judicial council, a body of chief and associate chief justices from across Canada. The council has recommended the removal of just two judges since it was created in 1971. Both resigned rather than face a vote in the House of Commons and Senate over their fate.

Presiding over the sexual-assault trial of Alexander Wagar of Edmonton two years ago, Justice Camp, then a member of the Alberta Provincial Court, asked the homeless 19-year-old complainant why, if she had truly not consented, did she not sink her bottom into the basin in which the act took place.

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JANFU said:

?Knees together? judge Robin Camp should lose job, committee finds - The Globe and Mail

‘Knees together’ judge Robin Camp should lose job, committee finds

The right decision.
Thoughts are?

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JANFU said:

?Knees together? judge Robin Camp should lose job, committee finds - The Globe and Mail

‘Knees together’ judge Robin Camp should lose job, committee finds

The right decision.
Thoughts are?

Click to expand...

AlbqOwl said:

Based on the one news account, my instinct is to ask whether there is more to the story. What is this judge's long term record? Good judge making careful and appropriate judicial rulings? Or bad judge with a history of this sort of thing?

I would be the first person to stand up to say that not everybody elected or appointed to the bench should be there. I have encountered my share of incompetent or just plain bad judges.

But I also have a hard time ending a person's career over one single politically correct incident for which the person has apologized. My first instinct that if this is an isolated incident, maybe a fine and suspension from the bench for a reasonable period would rehabilitate an otherwise good judge. And then if it happens again, lower the boom on him.

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AlbqOwl said:

Based on the one news account, my instinct is to ask whether there is more to the story. What is this judge's long term record? Good judge making careful and appropriate judicial rulings? Or bad judge with a history of this sort of thing?

I would be the first person to stand up to say that not everybody elected or appointed to the bench should be there. I have encountered my share of incompetent or just plain bad judges.

But I also have a hard time ending a person's career over one single politically correct incident for which the person has apologized. My first instinct that if this is an isolated incident, maybe a fine and suspension from the bench for a reasonable period would rehabilitate an otherwise good judge. And then if it happens again, lower the boom on him.

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Carjosse said:

If I remember right he has been known for this kind of behavior before. It is not being politically correct, what he is doing is undermining the concept of the justice system by blaming the victim of the crime instead of the perpetrator. It is simply unacceptable to blame the victim of a crime.

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