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> insane suggestion that we shouldn't punish false reporting because it will somehow disincentive reporting [...] False reports, especially those used for retal
by OJFord 4y ago
> insane suggestion that we shouldn't punish false reporting because it will somehow disincentive reporting [...] False reports, especially those used for retaliation, should be a felony and result in jail time.
Jesus, jail time! I can tell you right off the bat that that would absolutely disincentivise me from reporting anything - some process I'm not privy to decides it was a 'false' report and I get jail? That makes for a very high bar for me not to wind my neck back in - and if that's what you want, only something that's too heinous to ignore gets reported, fine. But it's certainly not an insane suggestion that there's a link there.
- pc86 4y agoI'm pretty sure the bar for proving a report was made in bad faith would be much higher than the bar for proving there is abuse happening. I'm not arguing that people who are wrong in good faith be punished, just that we punish people who we can prove lied in order to retaliate against people they don't like.
- notryan 4y agoNot really. The bar (at least in the US) for convicting someone of false accusations is just the same as any other crime. The difference is the police won't go after false reporting often, probably because they are worried it will have a chilling effect on people talking to them. If 10% of murder convictions are mistaken it would stand to reason that the false accusation conviction error rate would be equally high or higher. It's fun to say, punish everyone that does crime X. But you have to accept a false positive rate.
- pessimizer 4y ago> I'm pretty sure the bar for proving a report was made in bad faith would be much higher than the bar for proving there is abuse happening. Why in the world would you be sure of that?
- worik 4y ago>> I'm pretty sure the bar for proving a report was made in bad faith would be much higher than the bar for proving there is abuse happening. > Why in the world would you be sure of that? A democracy
- s1artibartfast 4y agoIt shouldn't stop you from from reporting the bare fax as you saw them. It should deter you from lies
- OJFord 4y agoRight but I don't want to risk someone thinking I'm lying, if it comes with such a cost to me, and ignoring the perceived problem has no cost to me whatsoever (just potentially to the observed child if, I'm right) - unless it was so shocking that it was both deeply affecting and also surely obviously not a lie anyway.
- amalcon 4y agoIt shouldn't, but it will. What happens when you report the bare facts as you see them, you are accused of lying, a jury is convinced, and you go to jail? That's a foreseeable outcome, and an effective deterrent. (Whether it's worth that deterrent is a question that I am not going to attempt to grapple with on a technology message board.)
- midoridensha 4y agoCalling in a fake police report resulting in a "SWATting" can easily result in prison time. Why should this be different?