Does a judge like this chill victims’ rape reports?

He apologized, but hey, well … whatever.

That has undoubtedly got to be the reaction of legions of people who heard in media reports across the country last week what can only be termed as the outrageous comments of one man regarding rape.

Unfortunately, that man is a judge.

And from the statements he uttered while presiding over a rape trial in Canada in 2014, it is clear that his views toward violent and nonconsensual sex are extreme and misplaced to a frightening degree.

Evidence of that assertion was on ample display during the trial. For starters, the judge reportedly referred to the victim on multiple occasions as “the accused.” And he questioned what he regarded as her lack of resolve in resisting the violence unleashed upon her.

“Why couldn’t you just keep your knees together?” he queried of her.

That comment understandably shocked her to the core, as did the judge’s stated view that young women who have been drinking are actively looking to engage in sex and that “sex and pain sometimes go together.”

According to media accounts, the woman stated that she felt self-hatred after being subjected to the judge’s remarks.

The judge ultimately acquitted the defendant. On appeal, that decision was overturned, and a new trial has been scheduled.

Understandably, once the judge’s remarks became widely disseminated in public forums, they exploded as headlines in countries across the globe.

The matter has certainly not ended. Several law professors lodged a complaint against the judge following the trial, and a national organ that oversees the legal system in Canada is now conducting a formal investigation.

The bottom line for one victims’ advocate is that the judge’s mindset might be regarded by some victims as being typical, with the public perception being that an accuser “will go into a courtroom and the judge won’t apply the law.”