It's not that unusual for a judge to be criticized but usually it's because they've said or done something that's blatantly wrong, unfair or unreasonable.
Yesterday a female judge, Lindsey Kushner QC, made an entirely sensible comment at the end of the trial of a man who'd been found guilty of rape and whom she was sentencing to 6 years in prison. She said that women were entitled to "drink themselves into the ground" but that their subsequent "disinhibited behaviour" could put them in danger. She warned women that being extremely drunk potentially put them in danger of being targeted by rapists.
Inevitably, Judge Kushner has been attacked for her words. An organisation calling itself 'Rape Crisis' has accused her of being outrageous and misguided though exactly why is unclear. Surely women have a responsibility to themselves and cannot expect to be mollycoddled by society; if they want to get drunk, that's their choice, but they also have to accept the potential dangers that follow. If a drunk wobbles into the path of a bus or lorry, or trips on a kerb, or simply falls over and breaks a leg, whose fault is it ? Surely it's the drunk's. If a drunk women finds herself being molested it may not be her fault entirely but she may well bear some responsibility for her situation as a result of earlier behaviour.
Judge Kushner is exactly right and all women who are out on the town, getting drunk and being 'on the pull' should take note.
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