OR.COLL.
HQ
75
. J96
v. 16
no. 12
April 16,
1999
V o lum
e 16
♦ N u m b e r 12 ♦ A
p r il
16 , 1999
P o r tla n d , O r e g o n
university of Oregon Library
Received on: 04-19-99
Just out
F R E E
Avoiding same-sex
domestic violence
leaves it out of
sight, out of mind,
and in a
neighborhood
near you
by Will O ’Bryan
Judicial Snapshot
Take a tour of the good, the bad and the funky world
inhabited by an openly lesbian judge by I nga S orensen
udge Judy, she’s not.
“W hat do you think I should
do?” asks Multnomah County
Circuit Court Judge Janice
Wilson. Draped in the customary dark
robe, she peers down from her judicial
perch at a man, probably in his late
20s, who’s in a fix.
“I don’t wanna go to jail,” he tells
Wilson.
The guy screwed up his probation,
and if the rapacious Judge Judy got her
claws in him, she’d slash him down
and blast him as a bum, jerk, moron,
punk— all, of course, to the cheers of a
drooling— and gargantuan— televi­
sion audience that craves the smell of
such steaming heaps of abuse.
The hordes are not here, with
Wilson and the man, to bear witness
on this day. Instead, words like restitu-
don, community service, jail and assault,
Judge Janice Wilson
bounce off the walls of the nearly
empty court room.
“W hat would you do if you were
me?” she repeats. Her tone is calm,
her question sincere. Still, your
instincts tell you she’s already made
up her mind about the fellow’s
impending future.
Nevertheless, the inquiry is impor­
tant because the man is given the
opportunity to ponder his indiscretion
as an intelligent, responsible individual,
not as some slimehall predestined for
the slammer.
As it turns out, the guy is saddled
with a couple of weekends behind
bars— but it’s less jail time than his
probation officer had recommended.
There’s not a peep of protest; he
may even view his sentence as fair.
Continued on Page 6