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That article gives me the chills, treating false rape allegations as if it was some trivial "no harm done" kind of thing. It's a serious matter. It's up there

That article gives me the chills, treating false rape allegations as if it was some trivial "no harm done" kind of thing. It's a serious matter. It's up there with allegations of murder, except that people who are cleared of murder generally face less prejudice and discrimination than people cleared of rape. Intentionally making false allegations should carry a sentence proportionate to the alleged crime, not to mention compensation for harm done to the reputation of the accused. Most of these people got off easy. The article also glosses over the fact that most of them were found guilty by a jury, whereas if the alleged rapists would've been found guilty, nobody would've spared them a second thought or cried foul.

DanBC 8y ago
Except in most of these cases the allegations aren't false, and harm was done. The harm isn't being done to the abusive men, but to the vulnerable women. And, in the context of rape, false allegations are vanishinly rare. In the UK commonly accepted figures say there are 90,000 rapes each year (and the real number is likely to be higher). That's a huge number of people who aren't seeing justice.
- chmod775 8y ago
  > Except in most of these cases the allegations aren't false, and harm was done. The harm isn't being done to the abusive men, but to the vulnerable women. There was not only no evidence of any crime committed by the accused, there was evidence of the accusers lying. A jury, after being presented evidence by both sides, first found the accused not guilty. Later, a different jury, after being presented evidence by two sides, found the accusers guilty of lying. What makes you so confident that, after reading an article that is objectively one-sided, you have a better grasp of the situation than the jurors in question? This absolutely boggles my mind. Maybe they all have been found not guilty by another jury by now and I just glossed over that fact?
  - DanBC 8y ago
    Criminal trials use "beyond all reasonable doubt" as their burden of proof. A criminal trial does not clear the accused of any charges. The jury may well think "he probably did it, and I would not leave him alone with my daughter, but the prosecution failed to prove that he did it beyond all reasonable doubt". Juries do not clear someone. Guilty people are found not guilty, by design, every day.
    - chmod775 8y ago
      I changed the language I used in my comment. Maybe it's now deserving of a response.

DanBC 8y ago

Except in most of these cases the allegations aren't false, and harm was done. The harm isn't being done to the abusive men, but to the vulnerable women. And, in the context of rape, false allegations are vanishinly rare. In the UK commonly accepted figures say there are 90,000 rapes each year (and the real number is likely to be higher). That's a huge number of people who aren't seeing justice.

chmod775 8y ago
> Except in most of these cases the allegations aren't false, and harm was done. The harm isn't being done to the abusive men, but to the vulnerable women. There was not only no evidence of any crime committed by the accused, there was evidence of the accusers lying. A jury, after being presented evidence by both sides, first found the accused not guilty. Later, a different jury, after being presented evidence by two sides, found the accusers guilty of lying. What makes you so confident that, after reading an article that is objectively one-sided, you have a better grasp of the situation than the jurors in question? This absolutely boggles my mind. Maybe they all have been found not guilty by another jury by now and I just glossed over that fact?
- DanBC 8y ago
  Criminal trials use "beyond all reasonable doubt" as their burden of proof. A criminal trial does not clear the accused of any charges. The jury may well think "he probably did it, and I would not leave him alone with my daughter, but the prosecution failed to prove that he did it beyond all reasonable doubt". Juries do not clear someone. Guilty people are found not guilty, by design, every day.
  - chmod775 8y ago
    I changed the language I used in my comment. Maybe it's now deserving of a response.