From what I see, many guys (not all) think 90% of women are saying they were raped for revenge or regretted it the next day. That there is no such thing as true rape or that as one guy put it, just borrowed her body for 5 minutes so not a big deal.
In the past I've also heard men say, it's just like forcing a kiss or handshake on someone, just a different body part, no big deal.Rape culture is alive and thriving, victim-blamingImagine being a rape victim but no one believes you and the person that did it convinces everyone it was consensual that you just regretted it but now you are being charged for filing a false report when it really happened. How would you feel?
That would highly discourage you from ever reporting it in the first place if that was happening to others.
The reason law enforcement does not prosecute false allegations too often is they are afraid it will deter true victims from coming forth.
While no one knows the exact amount, studies show it is between 2% to 6% of rape allegations are fake, but people believe as many as 60% are. That is a huge difference.
Since rape victims have a life sentence for their attack, how would you handle this and what do you think is fair to make sure justice is served, while protecting the rights of the accused and while keeping it so victims can still come forth without fear of not being believed or being charged with a crime if they are not.
All this while getting the perps who actually did the crime locked away to protect others.
Before anyone states, they should immediately report it while evidence is fresh, that is ideal but often not possible. Many victims initially can't believe it actually happened to them and have to process things for a few days of crying and fear.
There is already a high rate of people not coming forth as it is, lets not make that worse.
Updates
+1 y
There is a lot of people not answering the question and going on rants instead.
The point of this question is a discussion that will allow
1. Victims to come forward to report it without fear, how to make this easier. Easier means more victims will report it sooner.
2. Honor the rights of the accused to not destroy their lives until they get an actual conviction.
Need to realize that after an attack, a victim often is in denial or scared to death an simply isn't capable of reporting it yet.
Updates
+1 y
Also to make sure the guilty serve decent time, potentially as long as their victims will serve. If a victim has a lifetime sentence from the attack, why would an attacker get out in 5 or 10 years or less?
This is part of the reason victims don't report right away, they fear that even if convicted the attacker will get a light sentence and be out to live up to their threats later.
How should society deal with accusations of rape and of rape itself as a crime?
I put on someone else’s question about rape and how it was swept under the carpet by the US military. It sort of highlights why dealing with rape is often hard to report as the person reporting is not believed.
I am using the US military as an example, this does happen in the UK military as well and i have seen examples of the system pushing the blame to the victim.
Anyhow. This is about the rape of men by other men in the US military,
it’s reckoned that 38 men are raped in the US military each day.
I am deliberately using this as an example of how the system can treat cases of rape.
This also happens in civilian life in various male dominated organisations or where there is a a message to be made to someone.
There seems to be this belief that a person will make up a rape (no matter the gender involved).
Yes there are occasional false rape accusations, over here the accuser will be jailed for making a false accusation.
The number of actual rapes far exceed any false accusation, this is also seen as like the stories above as a way to basically say Rape does not happen.
Also the numbers in stats are usually actual reported rapes, there is very rarely any mention of attempted rapes, these are also a hidden well of despair.
I've said before I spent circa 8 years as a volunteer at a counselling centre, a lot of our referrals were university students, who did not want to go to through the universities counselling in case they put their course in jeopardy. A high number we’re about attempted rapes, where a real attempt had been made to assault the person (again both guys and girls). In one September / October we had 15 - 20 guys in for initial assessments having been subject to assault or rape from other guys over the summer, some from holidays abroad some just from being in the UK. That was not a one off.
What to do about accusations and how rape is handled as a crime.
i believe the UK and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is getting there, it uses consent as a main driver and has specialist referrals for cases ( specially trained prosecutors who work in our dedicated Rape and Serious Sexual Offence Units).
To quote CPS - A decision by the CPS not to charge, stop a case or change the charge – or if a jury decides that someone is not guilty – does not mean that the victim was lying about being raped. These outcomes mean that tests within our Code or the standard of proof needed by the court were not met. unquote.
Where someone is not charged with a rape it is often pushed by their friends, social media even their legal team that the accuser was not telling the truth or the accused was innocent, often the evidence is not enough or it’s a technicality.
Guys do get raped (or attempted) by guys and do not report it.
Girls get raped (or attempted) by guys and do not report it.
In both cases there is a huge amount of life changing mental health issues to overcome. Simply facing friends and family can be almost impossible.
one thing that should not happen and needs to stop is where people make light of it, say it’s something minor, just sex and importantly use the small number of false accusations to almost justify rape happening in the first case.
someone reports 1000 rapes and someone else will say oh yes but 2 of those were false as if in the scheme of things matter, there were still 998 people whose lives were changed forever.
Consent really needs to be taught more and to kids so they fully understand it.
Very well said and informative. I agree with almost everything you say up until the last sentence. I'm not sure if I understand what you're saying. I've heard many people say teach people, usually guys, not to rape. As if they didn't already know that. Kind of like saying "Teach people not to murder." Or "Teach people not to kidnap." Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you said.
618,000 women and 155,000 men experienced rape or sexual assault in the year 2019-2020 (the last time this data was collected).
In 2020, 51,367 victims and survivors of rape who reported what happened never saw someone charged.
Of the 52,210 rapes recorded by police in 2020, only 843 resulted in a charge. This means that victims and survivors had a less than one in 60 chance of seeing someone charged, let alone convicted. In the year ending March 2020, before Covid-19 restrictions had an impact on the court system, 55,130 rapes were recorded by police, while there were only 2,102 prosecutions and 1,439 convictions. (Office for National Statistics and Crown Prosecution Service).
If a guy is one of those 155,000 guys and reports the offence, he is likely one of a very small number, of that small number and even smaller number will result in a sentence.
The entire system is sort of rigged against anyone reporting a rape, no matter the gender.
The chance of being believed is not always present, the police may not believe them.
Even when they are believed, the chances of finding the culprit is really small.
Then when found, the chance of a conviction resulting in a sentence is even smaller.
The person (both genders) then has to face friends, family, work colleagues with them potentially knowing the details.
Then potentially a wait of up to two years for counselling
What the solution is I don’t know, the police struggle to get convictions, those raped / assaulted don’t come forward, there is lack of trust in the system, there is also a lack of follow on support for victims.
There is also the Stigma of a person being raped, this equally applies to a woman, a man or children.
@chrismaster69 Thanks for that info, your a sweetie. One of the good ones for sure. There is also a lot of bullying that goes on trying to get someone to retract their story, saying it was consensual or didn't happen.
1) I understand how tough it is to come forward. I know, because I've been there. I was molested as a child by the maid, and have kept that as a secret for most of my life, and only my mother knows about it in real life. I also understand that if I was to come out talking about it 15 years later that nobody would believe me, and it's something I am at peace with. I have no evidence that it happened, just my word, so I don't expect others to believe my story. However, this is by no means an excuse for people to lie and accuse an innocent person of a crime they didn't commit. The 90% figure that most men think a girl is lying that you put up there is not only factually false, but it is absolutely disgusting. I say it's best to be neutral in all situations and not jump to conclusions.
2) I think the bigger issue at hand is that society fails people when it comes to issues of consent. So, what do I mean by that? I will use myself as an example. I was only 5 years old when it happened, and continued for 2 years. I didn't know what was happening at the time, because my mind didn't process what she was doing to me. As I hit puberty, I realized the severity of the situation, but by that time it was already too late. If we are able to teach kids about these problems from a young age, it will make it relatively easier to speak up when it happens to them either at that age, or even as adults. Had I known the truth earlier, I would've spoken up, but I didn't. I can't change what happened. However, saying that fake accusers have to be punished doesn't take anything away from real victims. If there are contradictions in their story, fake evidence, or CCTV footage/text messages/audio recordings that CLEARLY prove otherwise without the shadow of the doubt, then in that case it should be treated as criminal offense. If there is no evidence to show that the accuser is lying, and also not enough evidence to put the accused in prison, then I believe the best case scenario is a not guilty verdict, since they couldn't prove otherwise. If all the facts align and are in the accusers favor, then the accused should face the full extent of the law for the rape crime that they have committed.
Well said, so many are saying if it comes back as not guilty then she should auto be charged with filing a report, but many times a real rape happened but like you said, not enough evidence. Charging someone for a not-guilty would just make more not come out, because of fear of not being believed or a not guilty verdict.
That doesn't make sense, because sometimes there are not enough facts to put someone away for good. Doesn't mean it didn't happen, but either way we wouldn't know. If that's the case, we would have no choice but to let the accused walk away, and nothing should happen to the accuser from a legal point of view. IF and ONLY IF there was VERY CLEAR evidence that the accuser was lying, then the accused should be freed, and the accuser should be charged with a fake allegation, and in my opinion they should receive the same sentence. Also, when it comes to protecting the accuser, I don't really know much about what the police can do, but I would maybe propose they be placed in witness protection if possible as an action that the cops should take. The threats if recorded can also be used as further evidence in court, but I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know.
Finally, even though I have gone through it myself, I can understand where some of the men in this thread are coming from with regards to fake accusations, might I add that I have already clarified that I don't agree that a not guilty verdict for the accused should turn into a guilty verdict for the accuser, but let me just say this:
Historically during Jim Crow, there have been countless lynchings that have occurred due to fake accusations. Even in modern times, there have been cases where Black men have been thrown in prison for CLEAR CASES of fake accusations where the details of the story change and not enough evidence is found, but years later when the charges are dropped, the accuser doesn't get charged with anything. I'm saying this because the gender dynamic is different clearly, and not all accusers/victims are the same in that regard, so we need to acknowledge different experiences. Now, men of other races do go through it as well, but to a lesser extent. Doesn't mean we also shouldn't acknowledge that too. And you know what inmates like to do to guys who have been found guilty of rape, so there's that as well. I know that there are injustices that occur on both sides of the coin, but if we want to go forward, we need to:
A) Always be neutral. Accuser isn't lying, and accused isn't guilty until proven otherwise.
B) Encourage more victims to report. Through education from a young age, that solidifies the point.
C) Better protection of victims in cases of safety concerns.
D) Bettwr ways to screen and determine what certain inconsistencies there are if any in the story and evidence given by the accuser, for the sake of the accused. Like I said, innocent until proven guilty. The same could be used to confirm the story as well. Screenshots, CCTV footage, voice recordings and so on. Once we have all the facts, we can then make a final decision.
First off I wanna say thank you for providing both points of view. I was expecting some bullshit about how false allegations are bullshit…
First off we need to raise our children better. Many “rapes” happen due to alcohol during parties and such. Bad choices lead to rape or regret. Teaching our kids about alcohol is best. Not only this but better children means better society which has fewer rapes overall. And for the ones that DO happen they wouldn’t happen like they are now in plain view on trains and busses.
There’s also a difference between rape and sexual assault we need to outline. Sexual assaults a broad term while rapes an obvious act… rapists need a bullet but does a man that touched a woman’s ass? It’s not the same. More importantly because it’s so broad a term looking at a woman for too long in places like the UK is considered sexual harassment.
Consider this as well. If a man’s accused of rape he goes to jail until court and sentencing if he’s not middle class or better and anyone seen by society supporting him is immediately set upon in today’s world. An innocent man’s more than once been sent to jail for false allegations. The woman gets the benefit of the doubt and the man don’t. While locked up he loses his job, support from friends and family and society, these days might not even be able to get a good lawyer to represent him due to optics, and loses money and his time. All this from allegations and reasonable proof like yes they had sex or yes he was seen near here on the day in question.
At this point all sex acts should be videotaped if ya ask me… for safety sake lol. Also yes it should be 100% required that the crime be reported the same night as no dna evidence leaves guilt into question. And a man will serve 3-5 years for rape then a woman should serve double his sentence for false allegations AND have to provide a public statement AND pay all legal fees AND restitution. If there’s PROOF she did it. For instance a woman was convicted of false allegations and admitted to them few years back… she got a year in jail and had some time served while he was locked up…
Or do we just allow men accused to take the hit all together? Do we ignore their rights to protect the rights of women? It’s disgusting.
Many victims can't report right away, they are too afraid. Especially if he threatened her, said he would kill her if she said anything or her family. There is also the fact that a initial response is to pretend it didn't happen as the emotional trauma is very real. Ideally asap is best but not always possible.
I know what you mean about sexual harassment, I'm referring to rape specifically. I don't even think 3 to 5 is enough time for that. It should be 15 to 20 per offense. As the victim will still be suffering long after he gets out of prison. Why should she get a lifetime sentence and he gets 3 to 5 years?
I have thought about the video taping thing, seriously did to be safe for everyone but then I thought. Someone could be forced off camera to state it was consensual and then proceed to record it.
That is the whole point of this question is what can be done to make it all better, without making it so victims are less willing to come forward, while still protecting the rights of the accused and preventing future attacks from the perp.
I will say that I think all people charged with a crime should have privacy and not be released by authorities. This goes for any crime though, until they are convicted. Mass shooters, rapists, any criminal. Victims get a right to privacy, the accused should to until they are convicted in the court of law. Then it can be released. This would help in all crimes, not just false rape allegations.
But your willing to risk men and false rape allegations to make it easier for women to report rape as though their suffering worse. I’ve been falsely accused. If times were what they are now I would be locked up…
If I got false accused Ide kill the bitch in retribution. Is that fair to you?
Not my fault you didn’t have the balls to report it right away. I know women suffer mental trauma but… when I complain how I was treated by women stupid women say stupid shit like who hurt you… so ya women get no sympathy from me.
I told you what I thought and you defended women and choose to ignore men. The real answer. Men stop fucking women. Don’t touch em don’t talk to them don’t work with them don’t live with them don’t help them don’t associate with them. Let them fucking run this world and let them suffer as the primary source of strength keeping their tiny world rotating… fucking women dont deserve a good man anymore.
I don't buy the argument that women don't report rape because they were threatened or because it was traumatic experience. If you are robbed of a lot of money and robber threatened you, that is a very traumatic experience. However, that doesn't prevent people from reporting a robbery.
However, if I'm showing off by waiving a bunch of money and end up getting robbed, I know I'm not going to receive much sympathy if I admit how stupid I was acting and I'd be embarrassed to admit that I was showing off by waving a lot of money. Therefore, since my actions contributed to the robbery, I might not immediately report it and I may never report it.
That is the same reason for not immediately reporting a rape. The girl knows her foolish behavior contributed to the rape. She enticed a hot guy by dressing in micro miniskirt. She engaged in heavy petting, and allowed the guy to take some or all of her clothes off before saying stop. It is still a crime, it was traumatic, and maybe the guy threatened her. However, she know her dress and actions contributed to the rape and doesn't want to admit her foolishness. Therefore, she doesn't immediately report and may never report the rape.
@DWornock I’ve always struggled with the idea they ask for it by what they wear but put into that perspective it’s true. Also don’t go into a dark alleyway because… what you need a reason? Life’s about mitigating risk and maximizing reward.
@VanillaSalt If girls thought they were taking a big risk when wearing a miniskirt or a string bikini, they wouldn't do it. As long as they are in a crowd such as on a public beach or dancing at a club, there is almost no risk. It is only when they are away from crowds and alone with one to several guys that how they dress and act becomes more risky. And, even then, the biggest risk is being alone in a place where they might be attacked.
Since my early teens and even before, I would go in all kinds of neighborhoods, night and day without problems because based on my age or dress, I would look like I didn't have any or much money and taking on young adult male is dangerous therefore, I wouldn't be an attractive target. For girls to do that would be extremely risky because it is not their money that makes them an attractive target. And, should a fight occur, unlike a late teen or young adult male, a girl is not perceived as dangerous.
I am far too stupid and mentally challenged to believe that men and women are equal in much of anything. My bias is to ingrained to believe that men are women are treated equally in family and other courts. And, my IQ is far to low to believe that the risk for a young woman going jogging at 2 am in a deserted park is no greater than for a young man to do the same.
Our system is so fucked up and as parent's you have to raise your kids to respect other people for boys to know and to understand if you ever do something like this your going to pay that price. And we raise our daughters to know the difference between right and wrong and just because you're angry you don't l i e to get back to somebody you taking somebody's life away from them and that's not right my kids were taught you do something wrong I put my hand out and I will pull you up I will always be there for you no matter what but this is one issue that if you premeditated something and if you did it you're going to pay for it that's the bottom line I was on another site another app and a girl asked a question. Or it was a statement of sort The girl said that she had been raped and that she was too scared to go to the police I've read over 400 other women saying that they were raped and they were too afraid to go to the police or they were afraid that nobody would believe them or they didn't want anybody else to know if they were ashamed After reading all of these answers I was so angry I was so pissed off
Because I just wanted to yell and scream and I don't do that I wanted to ask why but you can't do that And then I was even more pissed off because thousands of guys are going to read these answers and they're going to think to themselves I can go right the group because they're not going to call the place that just sent me fucking sky-high to the Moon I was so pissed off And you can't be angry because they just got raped you cannot say the things I wanted to say How about the women in our Armed Forces how about the women in our colleges they all go through this shit is bullshit If there is any woman any girl that gets raped out there you need to go to the police you need to get Justice
For any girl that falsely accuses somebody you need help and I hope your Justice comes to
For any guy out there that has done this you are a piece of shit how fucking dare you there's so much I would like to say you will get your Justice one day so live your life up now because when it comes time you're going to get a baseball that up your fucking ass if I had anything to do with it justice will be served on you I know three women that have had it done to them excuse me 4
I'm one of these people that you cannot piss off no matter how you try I just don't get pissed off right now I am so pissed off there's three four things in this world that set me off I can deal with anything I don't care what it is I can deal with it it's not that big of a deal
Except for premeditation anyting if you're going to harm somebody and you premeditated I would come after you you heard a child you are a pet an elderly person I will come after you you rape a girl did I know and that I have contact with I will come after you those are the only things in this world to piss me off I can't even remember what the question is now
All I know is it all women have to come forward every single one it's the right thing to do that's what will stop it or deterrent from Happening it's out of control side of hand is our politicians are not doing enough about it it's the good old boy system will fuck you good old boys what you going to take your daughter your wife before you start putting in stricter laws And for the women that falsely accused shame on you you have to pay your price to someday And for you district attorneys I think you're also righteous let me tell you something you have put a lot of innocent people in jail because your fucking will not do your homework you think just because you think something is true it's bullshit in down deep you know it's bullshit Like I said I don't remember what the question is but I do know this whenever your belief is I will back that play because I believe in you
You know me, had the guy not tried to kill me, I wasn't going to come forth. He had broken me, that probably happens a lot more than anyone would ever like to believe. He threatens us, he has already violated us, we have no reason to believe he won't live up to the rest.
Ideally though, everyone coming forth asap, is best but its not realistic.
As someone who has seen firsthand the devastating effects a false rape accusation can have on a man's life, I can tell you that is a life sentence, too.
Yes, studies have suggested between 2% and 6% of rape allegations are fake, but those studies do not factor in the number of rape accusations that are dismissed before they ever make it into the legal system due to a lack of evidence. Sometimes there is a lack of evidence for a crime because the rime never happened. One side suggests that means a lot of rapists go free, but few people seem to recognize the other side of that, which is that a lot of false accusers go free. I have watched it happen.
But regardless, something that rarely gets discussed is the fact that, legally, the identity of an accuser must not be revealed but the accused can and usually is put on trial, and typically "convicted", in the court of public opinion before the case ever actually goes to trial. That is very unfair to men, who are usually the ones who find themselves in that position.
This issue is a complicated one, and there is more than one side to it.
I fully support accused having their identity remain hidden until they get an actual conviction. This isn't just for rapists though, but ALL crimes of any type. Mass shooters as well, no fame until they get convicted (if they are alive) this way no fame until a year or so later.
If no conviction, no name released. Everyone should have privacy up until that point. At least released by authorities, victims will still talk about it, but nothing official will be released.
but when one of my very best and dear friends came to me, because this happened to one of them (sexual harassment and intimidation) and after she told me all of what happened, how it happened... it was a difficult thing for me to do, but I still asked her... "are you sure this what, and how it happened" and she said yes, I was not doubting her, I never would because I know her extremely well but I needed to be 100% sure because I was about to take these matters into my very own hands
I know is not the best thing to do, and it might be wrong... well, it is illegal for sure but, it was very personal to me, and I was also 100% sure that "society" would just dismiss it as a "not a big deal" situation in which she didn't really got affected ( I know this because for a time, I did work a job in which these cases were reported and attended) so yes, I took care of this situation in a different way
let's just say I made 99% sure that this guy, would never ever get close to my friend, ever again... and he hasn't, since
by the way, when I went to him and had him face to face, I just asked him a simple question... "did you do this or that" and his reaction was not to deny it right away, so that, for me was enough said or not said, then he tried to make excuses and that was it...
I am not proud at all of what I did, but I am at peace with what I did
A man rapes a woman, he goes to prison, and rightfully so. Society: 👩🏼 > 👱🏻♂️
A woman rapes a man, nothing happens. People claim he enjoyed it. Society: 👱🏻♀️ > 👱🏻♂️
A man is falsely accused of rape, he goes to prison and his life and future are destroyed. Society: 👱🏻♀️ > 👱🏻♂️
A woman is falsely accused of raping a man, the man is ridiculed by society and nothing happens. Society: 👩🏼 > 👱🏻♂️
A woman consents to having sex with a man and regrets it the next day. Crying rape. The woman is believed over the man. The man goes to prison. Society: 👱🏻♀️ > 👱🏻♂️
And women have it worse when it comes to rape? 😂 Seems they have far more protections and receive far more comfort than they should when it comes to this topic. Where are the men’s rights when it comes to rape? Why is it always seen as strictly something women have to worry about when the act as well as the false accusation of the act happens to men? Yet women need all the protection while claiming they are equal to men. 😂😂😂
Hence the entire reason for this question, not how it currently is but how to change it.
How to get real rapists locked up, how to prevent false accusations from ruining someone's life and how to not let the guilty go free to live up to their threats that if she came forward he would kill her or worse. Many rapists will threaten to not come forward and if you do, they'll harm the victim more, their family, etc...
All of this while also making it easier for victims to come forward and report the crime, rather than suffer in silence. Many here have suggestions that would merely make victims less likely to come forward.
Logic suggests report it ASAP but a recent victim has zero logic, raw emotion.
Men that are raped should be treated exactly like women who are.
It is an inherently difficult crime to deal with because consent having or not having existed is already hard to prove, even if everything else is current.
My mother worked with these things daily. She has admitted to having grown jaded because of it and the majority, not 2-6% but 80-90% were supposedly false according to her. The most common scenarios being someone having cheated and covering it up. On the other side, out of the cases she fully believed to be true, very few ever saw justice. This isn't fun to acknowledge. The numbers we'll probably never really confirm on either side. But the fact that false allegations do exist and do ruin lives is an important note, as is the case that most victims never get any real lawful closure.
Ultimately the issue isn't in this but in the difficulty of procuring evidence. If evidence can be easily brought forward that does not only validate victims and make it easier for them to step forward knowing they will at the very least see justice done - it also solves the issue of false accusations. If evidence is constant and reliable a lack of evidence becomes a real cause for disbelief thus giving justice to the falsley accused as well.
If society was to effectively deal with this crime what is really needed would be establishing a way to confirm the crime. Of course there are hypothetical extremes. We could all lock up every orifice or sexually applicable body part. Keep the key in a high security vault which would at the very least show that consent was not mutual. But at a core what is needed is a way to acquire irrefutable proof and at least I am not solving that one at the time of writing. A global buddy system? Sex is only allowed if both buddies have received explicit consent from the involved parties? People would still need to come forward while evidence is well, fresh. But it would be a big step forward. Not sure if it is one society at large are okay with.
What do society have to debate on such crime? Personally i think the term “society” on this question is misplaced, - it should be “How should authorities deal..” It doesn’t matter what society or part of or some individuals may think or deal with it but the law and order in place - how the authorities respond, investigate, prosecute and punish the culprits. It’s the authorities that fail by dismissing victims, shoddy investigations that lead to perpetrators going free or innocent people incarcerated.
It is tough because rape has to be proved. If a guy says they had consensual sex and the woman says rape... the police/law is in a bind. One has to be lying. They need to investigate and look at other evidence and such. You can't convict innocent people and you can't just blindly take one person's word over another. Detective work has to be done to see whose stories have holes... what other evidence supports one claim over another.
In a way, a rape on the street is easier to prove, she is often injured, beaten, tearing in the vaginal area, it looks traumatic, he doesn't know her, he's fled the seen.
If the two know each other, they are on a date, there are no signs of trauma... just signs sex occurred and he says it was a date, they just had sex together, she says it was rape? What are we supposed to do with that?
Those are the worse, trials often trying to decide who is more believable. Which is why some people say she should fight back, but not everyone can. Some just freeze up in terror.
Deal with accusations of rape like any other crime, with due process. I don't care how rare false accusations are, punishing even a single innocent person puts the entire credibility of our justice system in jeopardy and no one wants that.
I don't support the death penalty for the same reason. Putting a single innocent person to death has the same effect because if there is proof that the person who was put to death was innocent after all, you can't being them back to life, the damage is already done.
The other side of the issue is though, letting even one guilty person go free... has the same effect as punishing even one single person. The entire credibility of our justice system gets flushed down the toilet.
The only reason any guilty person would go free in a proper system is if the evidence that the person did anything wrong wasn't able to be found. If they were released knowing they were guilty then we have a problem.
The only true way to fix the problem with unknowingly letting the guilty go with witch trials and we all know how that turned out.
To be honest I really don’t know what more can be done. There is a burden of proof in the legal systems of the developed world, and unfortunately most sexual assault cases are one persons word against the other and that is not enough to convict.
Back when I was looking into law enforcement as a career I had an instructor that work sex crimes for years. Out of 10 accusations, 1 would be proven false, 1 would be proven true and the rest were not enough evidence to convict or even go to trial.
I wish there was a better solution but I just don’t what it could be
Sad but true, criminals know this and sometimes like to play the lottery knowing they have better odds of getting away with rape than of winning the actual lottery by far.
Too many people think "believe the victim" means "lock up the attacker no questions asked"; it doesn't. It means be there for the person who was attacked.
-Give them a shoulder to cry on -Don't let them feel alone -Provide a calming atmosphere -Do what you can to make them feel safe -Do what you can to make them feel loved
Wounds heal better when dressed immediately and psychological trauma is no different. It isn't your place to see to it that the attacker endures their due time; that's what the justice department is there for after enough evidence has been gathered and analyzed for a conviction. True, the words of a victim aren't enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a sexual assault occurred but when it comes to how you treat the abused, this isn't a court of law, it's a court of common sense.
Thanks for the other comments, I also do not believe people should believe the victim no matter what. The real issue with that is one victim will believe another victim no matter what. If there is that many people believing does that mean there is that many victims out there?
when an actual rape happens, it should be reported. when a woman accuses a man of one, falsely, she should be prosecuted. Truth must prevail. There were one rape attempt in my life, which i never shared with my family, because... well... i didn't know how to feel about it. And there were a girl years back, which scared her rapist, while he was raping her. She didn't report, but was never seen again. It can be really complicated.
It is immensely hard to report it right away for many victims, as they still process what happened. Especially if he threatened to kill her or her family, etc... Like what if I go report it and someone who already did this to me, now lives up to his promise.
Police are not that idi0tic, if you tell them s/he threatened to kill you or your family, they will take action and keep you safe or have patrol near your house, until he is captured. I am pretty sure i have read they have a protocol how to act in such situations. Besides, if\when you report your rapist to the police, he won't telepatically be aware of it, the moment you did.
@avaonelastime I'm glad the police where you are take action, in the US they have no legal obligation to protect anyone and often do not. They cannot be everywhere at once. The supreme court has ruled they have no obligation to protect anyone. Their job is strictly cleanup.
I won't say they are idiotic, they just do not care that often. There have been plenty of cases where someone reported their rapist and ended up killed later or raped a second time. Especially when the rapist is in the same household or a close family friend.
Statistically, 98% of women that come forward with a rape claim are being honest. Those 2 % that lie are the worst kind of people because they are accusing someone of one of the worst things as punishment and they make it hard on the ones that are honest. Rape is one of those things that are so difficult in court because unless you were drugged it’s hard to prove whether it was consensual or not and I really don’t know a solution to that. I will say no matter what you wanna say about the survivor of the crime the one who was a rapist is the one that did wrong and committed a crime and should suffer the consequences. A lot of rapist will target the most vulnerable and it’s not just who is dressed revealing. I’ve seen it be elderly and mentally handicapped and it’s so sad. Ladies, If you do get raped do not take a bath brush your teeth or clean your nails and go to the hospital to get a rape kit performed as soon as possible
I don't have the answer but I do know a woman come up 20 or 30 years later with accusations of rape and that's all they need is BS. As soon as the accusation is made some guys life is ruined based solely on a he said she said from 20 yes ago. That is bullshit.
I don't agree with the people that wait that long or wait until they are being considered for a position of power or respect in the government or a big corporation, etc... why wait until then? that makes it look like a political attack.
One thing I would not change is the standard of evidence for conviction (beyond a reasonable shadow of a doubt).
Did you know a lot of police departments in the US have a maximum allowed IQ for hiring? We need to get rid of that. The percentage of unsolved crimes in the US, especially in some dysfunctional cities, is appalling. Compare with Japan, for example. It is possible to do better.
In order to claim that 25% of college girls are raped during their college years, according the Mary P Koss, two definitions of rape are having sex when you really didn't want to because the guy was persistent and having sex after being given an alcoholic drink or drugs. And, mainstream media has accepted her statistics and by implication her definitions.
I'm don't believe those rapes are often reported. And, since they are 90% of all rapes, very few rape allegations are fake.
Regardless, false allegations should have the same penalty as rape and should be prosecuted just as vigorously.
A guy's biggest fear is being falsely accused of rape and a woman's biggest fear is being raped. Men and women ( generally speaking) will never see eye to eye on this topic for this reason.
When an accusations is made , it should be dealt with like every other crime. I know that's kinda hard for most people because of the nature of the crime.
I think it should be dealt with like any other criminal investigation. As much as I’d want to have all the offenders of rape put in prison, proving a crime beyond a reasonable doubt is still important to protect people.
Best thing to do is not to jump to hasty conclusions about whether it’s a lie or not.
Another thing I think is flawed is how we generally publicize criminal investigation and the identity before the trail has begun. It leads people to quickly assuming things. While I don’t think there’s much that could be done, it’s should be consider unethical for journalist to publish about criminal trial prior to trial, specifically giving names of people. It’s like defamation if it turns out to be not true.
I've said it several times here, that the accused should have a right to privacy until convicted. Authorities should never state who they are until that time. Especially mass shooters who get no fame until years later when they get convicted, assuming they are alive. This goes for any crime though, not just rape. Privacy should exist until conviction for the accused.
Both accusations of rape and rape itself should be taken very seriously. If it can be determined in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt that a rape took place, then the rapist absolutely deserves a severe punishment. Likewise, there should be a way for the accused to have their day in court against the accuser. If it can be determined in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt that the rape did not take place, then the accuser absolutely deserves a severe punishment.
No. I'm saying that if the accused is found not guilty, then they should have the right then accuse the accuser and take it to court. If the original accuser is found guilty, beyond a reasonable double, of making a false accusation, then they should face serious consequences.
Do you not think that would make people afraid to come out and say they were attacked though? Fearful now that if they are not believed or the person has resources and money to get not guilty that they could now not only be a rape victim but a victim of the system locking them away for stating what actually happened to them and reporting it?
Seems to me that would make even more people less likely to come forth and report it.
I don't know. I don't think so. An accusation of rape is a very serious charge even if it's never proven it can destroy someone's life. The accused should have the right and then try to make their case in court that the accuser was lying. This would have to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. I would say that it's quite possible that neither the accuser nor the accused would be able to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
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