| women who lie about being raped
Posted: 10/27/2009 5:44:30 AM | | Katie, so sorry to hear your point, but it does point out very much the other side. While it is wrong to accuse someone of rape who isn’t guilty. The conviction rate in this country is appauling and makes it the hardest crime to convict on. The damage to the individual in these cases can, and as you point out does destroy peoples lives on both sides. No easy answer. | |
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| women who lie about being raped
Posted: 10/27/2009 2:44:39 PM | Women who do this receive minimal prison time and sometimes no punishment at all
SO....Should women who lie about being raped receive a prison sentence that is equivalent in length of time to that of a convicted rapist ?
Personally, I have been in court, (this country has funny ideas about the paperwork associated with driving a car...) and had the opportunity to watch a case unfold where a woman had done exactly this. She enlisted the aid of a couple of guys who were in the vicinity at the time, and the local cop shop had to get a hold of a WPC to work on the case in the wee small hours, and other associated disruption. It was eventually uncovered that she had made up the whole thing after apparently thinking better of an illicit liaison. The sheriff vented his spleen at great length, pointing out, quite rightly how every time this happens, it makes things that much more difficult for GENUINE rape victims. The sentence? Summary execution? Thirty years hard labour? As I recall, some one hundred and something hours of community service. Just over a week...
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| women who lie about being raped
Posted: 10/30/2009 6:23:11 PM | | I met up with a girl on here, without giving any names away, she's 29 and lives not that far from me. She told me a few weeks ago that she'd slept with her ex and then had an abortion as she got pregnant. A few weeks later, he's seeing someone else, and all of a sudden she's claiming that he raped her, even going so far as to message his new girlfriend on here telling her that. Needless to say, I've washed my hands of her. | |
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| women who lie about being raped
Posted: 11/2/2009 11:52:35 AM | One of my son's friends was accused of rape some time ago.
He was put on police bail pending enquiries for nearly ten months.
During that time the conditions of his bail were that he could not
return to his home, or home town for that matter. He had to spend
that time living with friends and also had to give up his job.
All charges were subsequently dropped. | |
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| women who lie about being raped
Posted: 11/2/2009 12:54:17 PM |
Should women who lie about being raped receive a prison sentence that is equivalent in length of time to that of a convicted rapist ? I'd say yes but with reservations.
Generally, if someone is falsely accused of a crime - any crime - then the accuser should face the same punishment that they tried to foist on their victim.
However... proving that the accusation was knowingly false is going to be difficult, if not impossible, to prove, even if the accuser has a history of making false accusations.
I do think it is absolutely wrong that the identity of accused people can be made public before the verdict, especially in crimes of the nature of sexual abuse and child abuse, because the moment it goes to press, the self-righteous lynch mob mentality takes over, and that is bound to influence jurors. | |
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| women who lie about being raped
Posted: 11/2/2009 1:08:10 PM |
I do think it is absolutely wrong that the identity of accused people can be made public before the verdict, especially in crimes of the nature of sexual abuse and child abuse, because the moment it goes to press, the self-righteous lynch mob mentality takes over, and that is bound to influence jurors.
If the verdict is "Not Guilty", then surely the identity of the accuser should not be protected? I appreciate that often there are people who HAVE commited this most heinous of acts who "get off", as it is hard to prove a crime where it is essentially one person's word against another, surely there should be the provision that the accuser's identity is made public, since the accused is innocent of all charges? There are more than a couple of groups who vehemently refuse to accept that women would make these sort of allegations without some basis in truth, but as things stand, there are far too many women out there who can make false allegations, potentially ruining someone's life with no possibility of any sort of comeback. | |
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| women who lie about being raped
Posted: 11/2/2009 1:35:08 PM | If the verdict is "Not Guilty", then surely the identity of the accuser should not be protected? This is where it gets complicated (or maybe it's just my thought processes that are unnecessarily fiddly):
If the verdict is not guilty, you still haven't established that the accuser has done anything wrong. If they have knowingly made a false accusation, i.e. tried to get you punished for something they know you didn't do, then no they shouldn't be protected, but you've got to prove that they did it intentionally. | |
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| women who lie about being raped
Posted: 11/2/2009 2:46:00 PM |
If the verdict is not guilty, you still haven't established that the accuser has done anything wrong.
Indeed...
If they have knowingly made a false accusation, i.e. tried to get you punished for something they know you didn't do, then no they shouldn't be protected, but you've got to prove that they did it intentionally.
Either way, the ACCUSED has been identified, possibly lost their job, made homeless, and ostracised. If they are supposed to be innocent, then why should the accuser be protected? I appreciate that it is a complex issue, but this one detail appears to be always brushed to the side. It appears to be acceptable that a person's life could be ruined, yet the accuser may remain anonymous. Whether the accusation is knowingly made or not, surely there should be some sort of responsibility on the part of the accuser? | |
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| women who lie about being raped
Posted: 11/2/2009 2:58:29 PM | Either way, the ACCUSED has been identified, possibly lost their job, made homeless, and ostracised. I think we already agreed that the accused shouldn't be named until after the verdict.
Whether the accusation is knowingly made or not, surely there should be some sort of responsibility on the part of the accuser? If the anonymity of the accused were protected before the verdict, this would be less of an issue, but yes, if I were falsely accused my gut reaction would probably be to desire some sort of comeback. However, gut reaction aside, I don't think people should necessarily be punished for honest mistakes and unless I could prove malicious intent I would have to accept that a court couldn't justify punishing them. That's not to say people shouldn't take responsibility for their mistakes and I would expect a public apology. | |
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| women who lie about being raped
Posted: 11/3/2009 12:59:03 PM |
If the anonymity of the accused were protected before the verdict, this would be less of an issue, but yes, if I were falsely accused my gut reaction would probably be to desire some sort of comeback.
Indeed BOTH parties identities should remain anonymous, but the person making the accusations has less to lose by making false claims. In any event, I am not the vengeful type, so if this happened to me, I would be more concerned at getting my life back together.
I don't think people should necessarily be punished for honest mistakes
Maybe it would make people less likely to make such "honest" mistakes, if you knew you would be held to account? I have seen someone park their car on its roof almost in front of me while driving her kids down the road on a very short journey as she was still drunk from the night before. That was not done out of malice, but still had major repercussions.
unless I could prove malicious intent I would have to accept that a court couldn't justify punishing them. That's not to say people shouldn't take responsibility for their mistakes and I would expect a public apology
You might find that courts won't always regard "ignorance" and "innocence" as being synonymous. What would you describe as a "mistake"? Would a public apology reinstate an unemployed person, or get them their spouse & children back, or even bring them back to life? I appreciate that this may be extreme, but these things do happen. "Honest" mistakes tend to happen through irresponsibility,fear, or lack of forethought, or any other number of reasons. There are also "not so honest" mistakes made too, hence the thread title... | |
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| women who lie about being raped
Posted: 11/3/2009 2:32:23 PM | I did say not necessarily punished for mistakes, and I also added the caveat that people should take responsibility for their mistakes. Obviously the consequences of the mistake are key, and as I said if the anonymity of the accused were protected before the verdict, which is what we are both advocating, it wouldn't be an issue. I am not arguing for people getting away with a public false accusation.
Anyhoo... this is going round in circles now so I'm done. | |
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| women who lie about being raped
Posted: 11/12/2009 10:57:44 AM | | In the UK a man accused of rape is named in the press after just an allegation while the "victim" remains anonymous. If he's subsequently cleared he has that slur on him for the rest of his life. Welcome to British justice. | |
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| women who lie about being raped
Posted: 11/15/2009 5:36:16 PM | The accused in alleged sexual crimes should be granted the same rights of anonymity as the complainant is afforded. They should only be remanded in custody when there is sure and certain evidence of date-rape drugs like flunetrazipam, forced penetration, abduction, improper imprisonment, or other physical violence.
When is a real rapist going to be gentle enough not to leave injuries? If she tried to fight him off then he should also be expected to show at least some kind of superficial injuries too!
However there's no reason not to tag them until innocence is established. Similarly, as in most crimes, they need bail conditions which prevent them from harrassing in any way the complainant of anyone connected with that person.
Most men (as well as many women I suspect) feel that women who place themselves into a position where they cannot remember whether or not they consented to sex should hold themselves partially responsible for that confusion and it is one of the points the police will seek early clarification upon. Not being sober enough to remember consenting should not be seen as valid mitigation if they end up being charged with wasting police time or attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Women who give false accounts to the police should not only be ordered to pay the accused damages, and appear in court for sentencing - but be imprisoned or perhaps committed into psychiatric care if found guilty - and ordered to pay compensation to the person who they falsely accused.
They deserve punishment, however - I suspect a life sentence comparible to that a rapist might receive, well it might be a little OTT. | |
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