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Bill of Rights for victims of false accusations
Topic Started: Oct 27 2010, 08:56 PM (208 Views)
Quasimodo

(from Britain) :

http://therightsofman.typepad.co.uk/the_rights_of_man/false-accusations/page/2/

A PROPOSED BILL OF RIGHTS FOR VICTIMS OF FALSE ACCUSATIONS

1. The establishment of a register of proven false rape accusers. First proposed by Judge David Bryant the register would help protect men men by enabling them to avoid contact with false accusers convicted of this offence. As with genuine rapists, false accusers are often serial offenders or target multiple victims. An alternative would be to place false accusers on the sex offenders register as their crime is clearly a serious offence of a sexual nature.

2. Requiring malicious false accusers to serve the same sentence they attempted to inflict on their victims. At present false accusers generally receive little punishment if any at all. Even when given custodial sentence is given it tends to be suspended or usually amount to a derisory a few months, sentences which are now generally accepted as ineffective and no deterrent. Such a policy would help to send out a message that false accusation are extremely serious crimes thus reducing false allegations and also removing much of the stigma from victims.

3. False accusers to fully refund the taxpayer all funds lost by investigating their false and malicious claims. Recent cases show false rape cases cost the taxpayer as much as £300,000 each.
In an era of large deficits and cuts, surely reclaiming such monies measure would not only provide a disincentive for inventing rape cases but also reduce the need for reducing services elsewhere? Alternatively, such money could be redirected into protecting and assisting genuine rape victims and catching actual rapists.

4. Requiring the media to give greater prominence to news of rape acquittal compared to reports on mere allegations. At present the media loses interest in rape cases once an acquittal occurs as highlighted in the Stern Review meaning victims of false claims are never able to clear their names.
An additional possible proposal might also stop the media (not to mention MPs) from using loaded terminology such as "victims" nor "rapist" until after a guilty verdict is established and the case has been provedd.

5. The removal of anonymity from false rape accusers when the balance of probabilities show their claims to be false.

6. Compensation to be paid to victim of false rape allegations.
Such a solution would not only help victims to try to return to normal life but also emphasise their status as victims of a quite horrific crime. Any such settlement also would help remove any stigma associated with the offence.

7. A full overhaul of the way false rape data is collected and presented.
False rapes cases should surely be categorised completely differently to actual rapes in crime surveys rather than muddled together, thus preventing feminists from using false rape claims as evidence of a lack of success in prosecuting genuine rapes. Such dishonest behaviour by the rape lobby is likely to put of genuine rape victims from coming forward as was the case with the exaggeration of low conviction rates.
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Quasimodo

(from Britain)

http://therightsofman.typepad.co.uk/the_rights_of_man/2010/06/to-the-58-mps-against-anonymity-for-those-falsely-accused-of-rape.html

REASONS FOR MAINTAINING THE ANONYMITY OF THE ACCUSED

(in reply to a proposed motion opposing granting of anonymity to persons accused of rape)


I. The Motion Is Unconscionable Because It Fails To Acknowledge The Damage Of False Rape Claims To Innocent Men.

The motion is unconscionable because it fails to acknowledge the harm to innocent men accused of false rape claims. It fails to recognise that rape is perhaps the most loathsome offence in the entire criminal law canon; that in some cultures, rape is regarded as more offensive than murder; and that rape is universally considered worthy of the most severe societal censure and condemnation. Worse, because of the nature of a rape claim, where the only physical evidence of an alleged criminal act is often precisely the same physical evidence of an act of love, a false rape accusation is almost impossible to disprove. Even when falsely accused men are cleared of rape charges, they often spend the remainder of their lives tainted as the possible perpetrators of the most loathsome crime known to mankind.

False accusations of rape have severely stigmatised more human beings than false accusations of any other crime. . . . They lose not only their good names but often their jobs, their homes or businesses, and their relationships and marriages. It is often impossible for the falsely accused to ever obtain gainful employment once the lie hits the news: for the rest of his life, a falsely accused man will have prospective employers Googling his name and discovering the horrid accusation.

II. The Motion Is Premised On A Bias That Rape Accusers Are Rape Victims

The motion manifests a disturbing and telling bias that presumes a defendant is guilty of rape based solely on an accusation. This is evident by its failure even to acknowledge the reality of false rape claims, and in its express language. Specifically, it asserts that the Government's proposal "sends a message to juries and rape victims that the victim is not to be believed."

By branding an accuser a "victim," the motion impliedly asserts that a rape accusation is true based solely on the allegation, before a scrap of evidence is admitted at trial, much less an adjudication of guilt is handed down. Such a description is grossly unfair to the presumptively innocent who are accused of such crimes since, by necessity, they must be guilty of rape if their accusers are, in fact, "victims."

III. The Proposal Does Not Send A Message That The Rape Accuser Isn't To Be Believed.

The assertion that the government's proposal "sends a message to juries and rape victims that the victim [sic] is not to be believed" is factually erroneous. The proposal sends no such message any more than anonymity for rape accusers sends a message that rape accusers are to be believed over the men and boys they accuse.

The message conveyed by anonymity for rape defendants is that the harm of publicly identifying innocent men who are falsely accused is severe and unconscionable, not that women are liars. It is a gross stereotype to insist that the general public is so obtuse that it will make such generalisations about rape accusers and rape defendants.

IV. Granting Anonymity Will Not Unduly Inhibit The Prosecution of Serial Rapists

(snip)

Would anonymity for men accused of rape hinder police investigations any more than anonymity for rape accusers hinders police (not to mention innocent men) from learning that a rape accuser has made false rape allegations in the past? The question scarcely survives its statement. Yet, society grants anonymity for women who accuse men and boys of rape because such anonymity is thought to serve other useful purposes, just as anonymity for men would serve important purposes, even if police might prefer to have them publicly named. The interests of law enforcement should never trump the interests of innocent men in not having their good names destroyed by rape lies.

V. The Proposal Will Not Reverse the Progress Made For Rape Victims, It Will Benefit Rape Victims
There is no basis whatsoever to believe that women will not come forward if the men they accuse are not publicly named. The one has nothing to do with the other. For example, there is no basis to believe that fewer women come forward when their rapists are teen males whose identities will not be made public, or when their rapists are men whose identities can't be revealed because such revelation would necessarily identify the women.

Moreover, justice for rape victims does not depend on the public shaming and humiliation of the presumptively innocent, much less the public shaming and humiliation of countless innocent men who are snared by false rape claims.

In fact, it is likely that more women would "come forward" if the men they accused were anonymous. When a woman accuses a male acquaintance of rape and he is publicly identified, it often isn't difficult to infer who the accuser is. It is reasonable to assume that most rape victims would prefer not to have their identities revealed by inference when they accuse an intimate acquaintance of rape.

(snip)

VII. The Motion Ignores That False Rape Claims Are A Significant Problem


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