ONTD Political Original Opinion: Should people who falsely claim rape be prosecuted?
Poll False accusers should be prosecuted
Should people who falsely accuse another of rape be prosecuted themselves? I raise this issue cause i'm often uncomfotable with how quickly people dismiss the idea that there are false accusations. Before you write me your essay telling me how that cases of assault are ridiculously high and unfortunately often go unreported, i already know this so save it. I want to discuss the uncomfortable other side of the coin, when the false accusations do occur.
My instinct says that it is a terrible idea that would prevent more people from reporting sexual assault. However i read a case like this and my thought is imprison her for as long as he was. The problem is often the cases are not as clear cut as this one ended up being.
Much like rape itself, statistics for false accusations are hard to pin down nor particularly reliable due to the very nature of the crime being often a he says-she says but they are reported to be between 2 and 10%. Further complication, its not quite clear when you can call something a false accusation. A case where someone is aquitted does not necessarily mean they did not commit the crime, in fact its more likely that a Crime was commited than not, but its also not far fetched to think that some of them really are cases of a false accusation. I do not think that these are frequent, however i also do not believe them to be as rare as some advocates for rape survivors make them out to be either. This article best articulates why i sort of hate the dismissal of these false accusations and this one shows why its a bad approach as well. (yes Jezebel got really Jezebel about it, but the overall point stands.)
I obviously don't have to tell you guys this but they hurt pretty much every one:
-The accused being worst hit as they may end up in jail as some have, having to register as a sex offender which makes life severly hard, and simply having that against your name can ruin your life in terms of getting a job, housing, etc.
-Then off course the one that i expect this board would be most concerned about, real victims of sexual assault are hurt a lot by the proven false accusations cause they give MRA, anti feminists and the likes some ammunition to say SEE WOMENS LIES ABOUT RAPE ALL THE TIME!!! giing them undeserved legitimacy on the subject.
-This is a small one but obviously the resourses devoted to the case brought by a false accuser can be put somewhere else.
-Whoever judges, prosecutes, the case, the one who defends the accused, i suspect they all get their reputations hurt by this cause of the high emotions involved here. Its not high on the list but its also a consideration. Even more, these are humans who may bring that baggage to other cases.
-The accuser as well, though, im not too concerned about how their reputation suffers. Biut given the frequency of sexual assault, it is not unthinkable that they may suffer it at some point and noone will believe them given that but of history.
All that said, do you think that there should be criminal prosecution of false rape accusation if proved? There have been cases over the last few years of the liars being prosecuted and going to jail, but i 've also seen that discouraged. But i also wonder if the fear of jail might stop the people who do lie from doing so, or is the potential of scaring away more real victims too high?
Vote and give me your thoughts.
Sources: 1, 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Mods, I thought a change of pace from the norm would be nice?? Yes, yes??
Should people who falsely accuse another of rape be prosecuted themselves? I raise this issue cause i'm often uncomfotable with how quickly people dismiss the idea that there are false accusations. Before you write me your essay telling me how that cases of assault are ridiculously high and unfortunately often go unreported, i already know this so save it. I want to discuss the uncomfortable other side of the coin, when the false accusations do occur.
My instinct says that it is a terrible idea that would prevent more people from reporting sexual assault. However i read a case like this and my thought is imprison her for as long as he was. The problem is often the cases are not as clear cut as this one ended up being.
Much like rape itself, statistics for false accusations are hard to pin down nor particularly reliable due to the very nature of the crime being often a he says-she says but they are reported to be between 2 and 10%. Further complication, its not quite clear when you can call something a false accusation. A case where someone is aquitted does not necessarily mean they did not commit the crime, in fact its more likely that a Crime was commited than not, but its also not far fetched to think that some of them really are cases of a false accusation. I do not think that these are frequent, however i also do not believe them to be as rare as some advocates for rape survivors make them out to be either. This article best articulates why i sort of hate the dismissal of these false accusations and this one shows why its a bad approach as well. (yes Jezebel got really Jezebel about it, but the overall point stands.)
I obviously don't have to tell you guys this but they hurt pretty much every one:
-The accused being worst hit as they may end up in jail as some have, having to register as a sex offender which makes life severly hard, and simply having that against your name can ruin your life in terms of getting a job, housing, etc.
-Then off course the one that i expect this board would be most concerned about, real victims of sexual assault are hurt a lot by the proven false accusations cause they give MRA, anti feminists and the likes some ammunition to say SEE WOMENS LIES ABOUT RAPE ALL THE TIME!!! giing them undeserved legitimacy on the subject.
-This is a small one but obviously the resourses devoted to the case brought by a false accuser can be put somewhere else.
-Whoever judges, prosecutes, the case, the one who defends the accused, i suspect they all get their reputations hurt by this cause of the high emotions involved here. Its not high on the list but its also a consideration. Even more, these are humans who may bring that baggage to other cases.
-The accuser as well, though, im not too concerned about how their reputation suffers. Biut given the frequency of sexual assault, it is not unthinkable that they may suffer it at some point and noone will believe them given that but of history.
All that said, do you think that there should be criminal prosecution of false rape accusation if proved? There have been cases over the last few years of the liars being prosecuted and going to jail, but i 've also seen that discouraged. But i also wonder if the fear of jail might stop the people who do lie from doing so, or is the potential of scaring away more real victims too high?
Vote and give me your thoughts.
Sources: 1, 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Mods, I thought a change of pace from the norm would be nice?? Yes, yes??