False Rape Accusations - a politically charged issue

[autisticdragonkin]

A question that has always come to mind is false rape accusations. Many people claim that they don't exist and others claim that they are extremely common.

Personally I see no motive for a rational person to engage in false rape accusations but at the same time I am highly skeptical of anyone who posts on tumblr that they have been raped but doesn't press charges for the reason that if they truly were raped then they would have no reason not to press charges.

I think that probably almost all rape trials that lead to a criminal conviction are honest accusations (although they may get the wrong person) but I am skeptical of any cases that do not go to court especially if they are also politically convenient

There probably are rape victims that are too ashamed to press charges but they are unlikely to post it on tumblr for the same reason

I think that defendants should have their rights respected and not lose anything simply by being accused as with all crimes

 

[Resident Tranny]

I agree with what you've brought up. Most, if not all, trials that end in conviction are probably honest. There have definitely been some major hiccups, Brian Banks comes to mind.

A lot of the time a simple Tumblr accusation is all it takes to destroy someone's life if it gains enough traction. I rarely ever believe someone if they declare it so publicly on social media, considering how traumatic the crime can be.

How do you feel about charging someone if it turns out their accusation is false?

 

[Vitriol]

A serious issue with rape is the extremely personal nature of the offence and the resultant lack of evidence. Most jurisdictions make the standard of evidence weaker in rape trials to attempt to compensate for this.

In my opinion this means that there are more false accusations because of this, more that reach court when they shouldn't but both more false convictions than other crimes while at the same time more guilty parties aquitted due to the very difficult nature of the evidence.

When one relaxes rules of evidence one gets more miscarriages of both types and makes it much easier to vindictively ruin an ex partners life however the normal rules lead to almost no convictions which is equally unacceptable. It is a gordian knot of a problem and ive never found a sword to cut it yet.

 

[TheImportantFart]

Personally I see no motive for a rational person to engage in false rape accusations but at the same time I am highly skeptical of anyone who posts on tumblr that they have been raped but doesn't press charges for the reason that if they truly were raped then they would have no reason not to press charges.

Sadly we live in a world full of irrational people (as these forums prove) who've realised that even if they turn out to be false, rape accusations can be extremely damaging to a person's reputation and can be used as a form of revenge. I personally think that using it as a weapon is despicable behaviour, and I also think that Tumblr, with their extremely esoteric definition of rape have done a lot of damage to genuine rape claims.

How do you feel about charging someone if it turns out their accusation is false?

I generally subscribe to the Blackstone Formulation: "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer", although obviously I think there are problems inherent with that. If someone is charged despite being innocent, I'll think that's terrible (unless they did something almost as bad which contributed to the accusation). If they did do it, then fuck 'em. The trouble is that as has already mentioned, rape is quite hard to prove and generally comes down to one person's word against another.

 

[Frank_Jaeger]

Only 2% of rape accusations are false, you can assume they're true 98% of the time and be right, so why wouldn't you?

 

[Vitriol]

Only 2% of rape accusations are false, you can assume they're true 98% of the time and be right, so why wouldn't you?

Its between 8-10% and roughly 5 times that of other crimes.

Some studies have found as high as 41% and others as low as 3%.

But even if it was just 2% if we just assume the accuser is correct in the UK alone that would result in ~25 innocent people every year having their life ruined by a false conviction. We have a foundation principle of innocent until proven guilty which assumes that it is better risking the guilty go free than the innocent be punished.

 

[Watcher]

Only 2% of rape accusations are false, you can assume they're true 98% of the time and be right, so why wouldn't you?

There is no 2% false rape accusation statistic.

Rape is one of the hardest statistics to actually prove and every time it's plotted out it differs wildly, and the data used to gather it is extremely inaccurate. As @Vitriol has pointed out it ranges between 8-10 and can go as high as 41%.

The reason being is that very few rapes that occur are actually reported. Of the rapes that are reported, many occur weeks, months, years even after the event. When evidence has completely dried up.

Additionally, setting all of this aside and playing Devil's Advocate for a second. Assuming the statistic was correct, it does not matter how much something occurs. We don't base guilt off statistics. This is much like assuming "if a certain number of blacks commit murder and are proven guilty, why not assume that they're always guilty?" The law is not about assumptions. You are innocent until proven guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt.

 

[KingGeedorah]

Lol it's a lot easier to call the cops on some faggot who sucker punched you and took your wallet then to call the cops on your Uncle Moe Lester. Most people are raped by people they know and or trust, which breeds all sorts of fucked up thoughts for the victim.

And sure, women who false report are literally EVIL INCARNATE. However it seems like most studies can't even find a steady number to attribute to false rape claims (Vitriol says a range from 3-41% (of what I don't know maybe cases in the UK?))

All in all, not a serious problem so don't worry dudes we still rule the world.

 

[Vitriol]

(Vitriol says a range from 3-41% (of what I don't know maybe cases in the UK?)

US studies mostly- the range seems to come from sample sizes and varying definitions of what counts as a false claim. When you adjust for reasonable sample sizes and normal definitions of rape- nonconsensual penetrative sex-the numbers are pretty consistant at 8-10%.

 

[Cheeseburger Picnic]

There's a difference between someone falsely claiming they were raped by an unnamed perpetrator (attention whore) and falsely accusing a real person (evil). Do these get lumped together statistically or is only the latter being counted?

 

[autisticdragonkin]

There's a difference between someone falsely claiming they were raped by an unnamed perpetrator (attention whore) and falsely accusing a real person (evil). Do these get lumped together statistically or is only the latter being counted?

Considering that the word accusation is in it I would say only the latter counts. I do not particularly see a problem with the former unless you also waste police resources with an investigation

 

[Vitriol]

There's a difference between someone falsely claiming they were raped by an unnamed perpetrator (attention whore) and falsely accusing a real person (evil). Do these get lumped together statistically or is only the latter being counted?

It depends on the methodology of the study, some do some dont.

 

[melty]

I don't usually rely on anecdotal evidence, but I know multiple people who have been raped and didn't report it or nothing came of the report. I know one person who is a friend of a friend who was falsely accused for a hot minute and nothing came of it. I do know someone on this forum was falsely accused, but I find it really hard to belive this happens all that often. Especially given the personal nature of confessing to being raped vs. the public nature of an accusation.

 

[Sweetpeaa]

Yeah and those don't make it to trial. It's not like the movies. Only certain rape cases go to trial, the ones with evidence, and even those are more likely to be dealt with in civil suits.

 

[Notgoodwithusernames]

I’m pretty sure the 2% only covers cases reported to the police or that go to trial not accusations made in blog posts or on social media

 

[Lemmingwise]

I don't usually rely on anecdotal evidence, but I know multiple people who have been raped and didn't report it or nothing came of the report. I know one person who is a friend of a friend who was falsely accused for a hot minute and nothing came of it. I do know someone on this forum was falsely accused, but I find it really hard to belive this happens all that often. Especially given the personal nature of confessing to being raped vs. the public nature of an accusation.

I know multiple false rape accusations. Honestly! I never touched them!

---

Seriously though I've seen multiple false accusations materialize. Feminists in particular think about rape a lot. They think it's much more common than it is. And then they feel left out if nobody is trying to rape them. I've seen multiple instances of women retelling the same story, a little different each time, until what she described would meet the legal definition for rape. Besides, with a sizeable population believing that "WOMEN WOULD NEVER LIE ABOUT RAPE", the incentives for one or two vindictive women to use that environment becomes very attractive.

Though rape is probably still more common than false accusations. It's usually hard to untangle. People's pro-women bias isn't helping in this regard.

 

[Unassuming Local Guy]

Do you believe all rape accusers? Then you believe every black man who was lynched purely because a white woman pointed her finger at them was a rapist. Sorry, can't have it both ways. Either false accusations happen or all those lynchings were justified. Pick one.

I realize that's something of a false dichotomy, but it's important to illustrate how stupid this absolutist, "all women are perfect beings of pure benevolence who cannot lie" viewpoint is. I have found that most people who believe that Women Are Wonderful tend to be deeply entrenched in the victimhood olympics, so the only way to get them to think critically for two seconds is to use another victim class against them.

To this day I've never heard a proper counterargument. The best I've heard amounts to "what I meant to say is believe all women unless they're white and the offender is not", which is a sentiment that even gets normies thinking.

I think this joe biden/tara whatever thing changed a lot of minds. Not because of any actual preponderance of evidence or facts or anything, but because it became politically useful to do so. I don't know or care if he did it, but I do find the double standard extremely interesting.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

I've heard from an actual policeman/detective that the vast majority of rape accusations they get are completely phoney.

Sometimes the women are being vindictive bitches and trying to lash out at somebody they know. Sometimes they're attention whoring. Women do this shit because there's no real repercussions. If men had some sort of social weapon which they could use to ruin people's lives without any risk to themselves, they would use it too.

 

[TFT-A9]

Mmm. Smells like honey.

 

[Queen Elizabeth II]

Rape does happen, but unfortunately it has also become the woman's alternative "Race Card". Do what I want or I'll scream and cry x.

Most rape cases don't get prosecuted because there is no evidence. Many countries now have equipment like rape testing kits where if reported within 24-48 hours they can take samples from the victim and have powers to force men to provide samples to prove their innocence. This is well known, and yet few use this.

Not that there aren't other reasons not to come forward such as shame, but these people were not going to be reporting anyway and not crying rape over twitter.