By Lauren Longo From Care2

There are a lot of decent, fair judges out there, but there are a lot of terrible ones too, especially when it comes to sexual assault cases. Far too often, judges are making headlines for giving rapists shockingly lenient sentences or blaming victims for their own assaults. Around the world, judges are letting rapists off the hook and treating victims with horrible disrespect.

A Mexican judge cleared a man of rape because he didn’t orgasm during the assault. In Italy, a judge acquitted a man of sexual assault because the victim didn’t “betray emotion” during the assault. In several cases, judges have dismissed cases because they believed the young victims looked or acted older than they were or that their bodies were “well-developed.”

There were a lot of contenders for worst judges on sexual assault cases, but these are five whose actions should land them in the Hall of Shame.

1. JUDGE RALPH STROTHER

Just last week, Texas Judge Ralph Strother allowed accused rapist and 23-year-old former frat boy Jacob Walter Anderson to plead no contest to the lesser charge of unlawful restraint.

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Anderson was accused of repeatedly raping his then 19-year-old victim his fraternity threw in 2016. He then left her outside, unconscious, face-down in her own vomit. Despite this, Anderson was offered a plea deal which judge Strother then accepted, ignoring pleas from the victim.

Strother has been lenient toward rapists in at least two other cases. Earlier this year, Strother sentenced a rapist to 30 days of jail but said he could leave on the weekends. Another time, he allowed a rapist to avoid jail time altogether, if he payed for his victim’s counseling.

A Care2 petition is calling for Strother’s resignation.

2. JUDGE PAUL MEYERS

A Canadian teenager sexually assaulted a girl in a bathroom stall, injuring her so severely she was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. The perpetrator was also convicted of sexually assaulting another girl just a few months earlier. Judge Paul Meyers sentenced him to two weeks behind bars, saying that the teen already faced “social ramifications” and will not be able to graduate with his peers.

A Care2 petition is demanding Meyers’ resignation.

3. JUDGE AARON PERSKY

Who could forget Judge Aaron Persky, who let convicted rapist Brock Turner serve only three months in jail?

A jury found Turner guilty of three felony sexual assault charges, and as a result the prosecution recommended a sentence of six years in prison, stating Turner posed a “continued threat to the community.” Instead, Judge Persky sentenced him to only six months in county jail because “a prison sentence would have a severe impact on him.” Perksy has since been removed from the bench following a recall vote.

4. JUDGE BRETT KAVANAUGH

In this case, the Hall of Shame nominee is both the judge and the predator.

As Kavanaugh was nominated for the Supreme Court, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct. Ford claimed Kavanaugh assaulted her when they were teenagers. Following this news, several other women came forward with allegations against Kavanaugh. Despite decent people (and many others) all agreeing that Ford was credible, Kavanaugh was still confirmed as a Supreme Court justice.

5. JUDGE ROBIN CAMP

Last year Canadian judge Robin Camp submitted his resignation because of a 2014 case in which he asked a 19-year-old rape victim, “Why couldn’t you just keep your knees together?” He also later told her “sex and pain sometimes go together.” When the victim told the court that the assault occurred in a bathroom sink, the judge asked her why she hadn’t put her “bottom down into the basin so he couldn’t penetrate you.”

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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