UK women have a monetary incentive to lie about rape

March 14th, 2009 by Pierce Harlan, Esq.

Sexual assault advocates in the United Kingdom are constantly lobbying for changes in the law to jack up the UK’s purportedly low conviction rate for rape. They invariably refuse even to entertain the possibility that the low rate is, in part, attributable to the fact that false rape claims are a significant problem. We have previously chronicled the prevalence of false rape claims here.

Sexual assault advocates also refuse to discuss a dirty little secret: some women in the UK likely lie about rape because they have a financial interest to do so. The UK compensates victims of non-forcible rape and even inappropriate touching over clothing. Consistent with the double standards so prevalent in this area, the UK does not compensate men who were falsely accused of rape, no matter how terrible their victimization.

The UK’s compensation scheme is a microcosm of the modern day false rape problem: the government sticks its head in the sand and refuses even to acknowledge that the scheme it created provides an incentive for women to lie about rape. Moreover, that compensation scheme tells men falsely accused of rape that their injuries, no matter how great, are not as important as the injuries suffered by rape victims, no matter how slight. Read the rest of my article on Glenn Sacks' blog