The tone of this article is just awful, but if you look at the actual facts it reports -- cutting through the angry, inane, conclusory assertions of members of the sexual grievance industry, not to mention the reporter's unfathomable insistence on calling likely false accusers "victims" because that's what they want to be called -- it comes down to this: a hell of a lot of rape claims in the Baltimore area are likely false. The sexual grievance industry has a hissy fit over this fact, and insists on police reclassifying false claims to make it appear they might not be false, like they do in other cities to placate the lunatic fringe. This article is a prime example of what happens when rape is politicized. I'll have more to say about this article this coming week -- I'll analyze it closely.
City rape statistics, investigations draw concern: Police defend tactics, but mayor orders review
The 32-year-old woman was walking through a midtown alley last January when a man pressed a gun to her shoulder and told her, "Don't scream."
At the hospital, where she was treated for vaginal bleeding, the woman recounted being raped at gunpoint, in a vehicle with black leather seats. When it was over, her attacker told her to walk away slowly and not look back.
The police detective's report reflects the tone of his questioning in the hospital room: Why had she waited two hours to call police? Why didn't she flag down a squad car? Where was she coming from before she was assaulted? Who was she with? Frustrated, the woman retracted her statement and signed a new one saying that nothing had happened.
No longer a rape, the incident was now classified as "unfounded," police parlance for saying the victim was lying or they do not believe a crime occurred.
It's the type of change that happens dozens of times each year, and more often in Baltimore than any place else.
The Baltimore Police Department has for the past four years recorded the highest percentage of rape cases that officers conclude are false or baseless of any city in the country, according to The Baltimore Sun's review of FBI data.
More than 30 percent of the cases investigated by detectives each year are deemed unfounded, five times the national average. Only Louisville and Pittsburgh have reported similar numbers in the recent past, and the number of unfounded rape cases in those cities dropped after police implemented new classification procedures.
The problem in Baltimore may go deeper.
In 4 of 10 emergency calls to police involving allegations of rape, officers conclude that there is no need for a further review, so the case never makes it to detectives — a proportion that experts say is disturbingly high.
The increase in unfounded cases comes as the number of rapes reported by Baltimore police has plunged —from 684 in 1995 to 158 last year, a decline of nearly 80 percent. Nationally, FBI reports indicate that rapes have fallen 8 percent over the same period.
Advocates who work with rape victims and experts who have reviewed police figures in other cities say they are concerned about Baltimore's statistics. They worry that investigative tactics used by police might distort the scope of the problem and discourage victims from coming forward.
They say Baltimore police have expressed a commitment to working with medical providers and victims groups, and they praise the efforts of many detectives. Still, women continue to report that they are interrogated by detectives, sometimes questioned in the emergency room or threatened with being hooked up to lie detectors.
Overall, say those who have reviewed the findings, the numbers just don't add up.
"There's nothing that we see in our work that makes a [more than] two-thirds drop in the number of sexual assaults and rapes in Baltimore make any sense, on any planet," said Rosalyn Branson, executive director of Turn Around, a Towson-based group for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.
Baltimore's "excessively high unfounded rate with such a small number of rapes reported in the first place" should merit a look from the FBI, said Carol E. Tracy, who works with a nonprofit that has been reviewing rape reports for Philadelphia police for a decade. In that city, the department had been systematically miscounting sexual crimes.
Current and former sex offense detectives in Baltimore defended their investigations. Part of their mission, they say, involves rooting out illegitimate complaints that in the past would result in wasted effort and false arrests.
Many reports of rape are made for "ill gain, in order to gain assistance or cover up not coming home," said one of the commanders of the unit, Lt. Thomas Uzarowski, in a March interview.
"The bottom line is, the case is only unfounded when the investigative facts prove the crime did not occur," said Uzarowski, who retired from the department this month. "It's not an opinion. It's not anything other than where the facts fall."
While Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III and other top officials declined requests for interviews, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake ordered an audit of police procedures and statistics last week after The Baltimore Sun contacted her aides about these findings.
'Victims do lie'
Experts on sexual assaults and police investigations say victims sometimes recant their stories to avoid interacting with police and prosecutors, particularly if they feel that their account is not being taken seriously. In those cases, they say, police should not record the incident as a false report.
Reports reviewed by The Sun were redacted to remove information about victims, witnesses and locations of the crimes. The omissions made it difficult to verify the police account and to learn whether the victims agreed with the officer's decision.
This article refers to the women who made the reports as "victims" because that is how they have identified themselves, regardless of whether law enforcement agrees with that label.
Of 194 reports of rape or attempted rape received by Baltimore detectives last year, about 32 percent — or 62 in all — were determined to be unfounded, according to a March audit provided by the department. Police said that in the vast majority of those cases, the victim "admitted that the original allegation was untruthful."
The reports show the complexity of cases brought to police. In a significant number of the cases, victims gave detailed accounts of an attack only to later say under questioning that the sex was consensual. In recanting, some said they had been afraid that they were pregnant or had contracted sexually transmitted diseases and did not know how to explain to boyfriends or parents. Many other cases involved children as victims.
One woman said she was high on drugs and that the encounter had been a hallucination; another was a prostitute who said she engaged in consensual sex but reported a rape after she was shortchanged by a customer.
The woman "stated she made the report because she was mad and tired of people thinking they can do what they want to people because of her situation being a prostitute," the report read.
But in many cases, detectives, in their own notes, appear to be pressuring victims by explaining the consequences of lying, promising to seek camera footage or cell phone records, and focusing on inconsistencies.
The Baltimore squad that investigates sexual assaults and child abuse comprises 50 detectives. One of them, Detective Anthony Faulk Jr., is responsible for one-fifth of the unfounded reports, shelving 14 cases last year, including the alleged attack in midtown. No other detective had more than six such cases, and some have none. Attempts to reach Faulk through the department and police union were unsuccessful.
In one instance, he wrote that a 15-year-old girl vomited from anxiety as he threatened to leave and retrieve crime-scene video to discern whether she was lying about having been raped. When he came back, she recanted, but refused to sign a statement. "She crossed her arm and held her lips together in a manner suggesting that she had nothing additional to say," the report reads. "This investigation is closed as unfounded."
Advocates say police, here and elsewhere, too often put the initial focus on the victim in sex crimes. Victims often were engaged in activity that they are ashamed of or believe their story has to fit a certain account and end up changing details, they say. When they are challenged or feel the police are not interested in helping, many will change their stories. Studies suggest the percentage of rape claims that are false is between 2 percent and 8 percent.
"One of the things we know is that victims do lie," said Gail Reid, the emergency room program manager for Turn Around, the victims group. "When the story doesn't fit together, all these red flags go off and police start a biased process of challenging their credibility."
Cities make changes
Rates of rapes and methods for classifying the crimes vary widely from place to place, but Baltimore's numbers stand out. It is one of only two cities in the country that records significantly more homicides than rapes, the other being New Orleans, where police are also facing questions. More than half the rape reports there have been classified as noncriminal "complaints," the Times-Picayune reported last year.
The rate of rapes per 100,000 people in Philadelphia and St. Louis – two cities that were found in recent years to be manipulating rape data and have made reforms – are more than double that of Baltimore.
"Unless there is an extraordinary crime prevention program going on in Baltimore that every other city would like to learn about, I think the numbers are very suspect," said Tracy of the Women's Law Project in Philadelphia.
Washington, San Diego, San Francisco and Atlanta are among cities with rates comparable to Baltimore's.
After The Sun sought a response from City Hall, Rawlings-Blake ordered an audit of unfounded complaints and an internal review of training and investigative practices. She met Friday with Bealefeld and Sheryl Goldstein, director of the mayor's office on criminal justice.
"I am deeply troubled to learn about the high number of unfounded rape complaints and the decline in reported rapes over the past decade," Rawlings-Blake said in a statement. "The data shows the critical need to immediately address the issue with a comprehensive review of investigative practices and responses."
Some cities experiencing high numbers of unsubstantiated rape reports have also been troubled by the statistics and changed reporting practices to avoid wiping reports off the books.
Sgt. Larry Scirotto said that when he took over the Pittsburgh Police Department's sex offense unit two years ago, many cases in which the victim recanted or didn't want to move forward were being marked unfounded, meaning the incident did not happen.
Scirotto said that was the wrong approach in a city that for years was, along with Baltimore, leading the nation in the percentage of police reports labeled unfounded.
He changed the procedures so those cases would be tagged "cleared by exception," a designation that keeps the incident counted among the city's crime totals but allows detectives to focus resources on other cases. The case can be revisited if the victim decides – whether through counseling or a change of heart – to pursue charges later.
"When you classify a crime as unfounded, it says you didn't believe the victim, or that we determined a crime didn't occur to begin with," Scirotto said. "I'm not concerned with the statistics. I'm concerned about being able to prosecute at a later time."
Interviews with advocates and victims, and a review of reports requested under a Public Information Act request, reveal an attitude of distrust by police toward victims and a reflex to dismiss rape reports both in the field and after investigating.
Lauren — who did not want her last name used to protect her privacy — believed that she might have been sexually assaulted last year after a night of drinking with friends. She drove to Mercy Hospital to get examined and reluctantly agreed to speak to a detective.
The initial officer listened and was comforting, she said, but a detective from the sex crimes unit immediately started an interrogation.
"He was lecturing me on the justice system and was giving me lectures about drinking," she said. "He was also questioning me about, 'Do you have a boyfriend? Does your boyfriend know about this? Sometimes people make up this stuff because they made a mistake. Just because you didn't remember everything, doesn't mean you didn't want something to happen.'"
No report was taken to document Lauren's concerns. Years ago, that might have happened, too, in Louisville, another city that once rivaled Baltimore's rape statistics. But now, Louisville investigators say, such a case would result in a police report and a classification of "unsubstantiated," which allows detectives to focus resources elsewhere.
Sgt. Andy Abbott said the Kentucky department has recently been using the in-house classification of "unsubstantiated" to keep cases open but put them on the back burner when necessary. Because of that change and others, the percentage of Louisville's unfounded cases has dropped and the number of reported rapes has increased by 17 percent.
"Unsubstantiated means there's a possibility a crime may have occurred, but we don't have enough to prove one way or the other," Abbott said.
Police: Investigations improve
For years, Baltimore's percentage of rape allegations labeled as unfounded was in line with the national average. But by 1998, the rate had doubled from its longtime average. Concern arose in 2003, and the Baltimore Police Department undertook an audit that found it had under-reported rapes by 15 percent.
By the next year, when Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm took over the department, the percentage of unfounded reports had doubled again and increased to a high of 37.6 in 2006. It hasn't fallen below 29 percent since, even as reported rapes continue to fall. Police could not explain the increase.
A review of FBI data from across the country shows significant disparities in rates of unfounded rapes. Though most have a percentage in the single digits, some cities, including New York and Cleveland, report zero – a number that experts say is just as eyebrow-raising as Baltimore's high rate. The FBI does little to monitor the accuracy of reporting.
"Why is it that women in the greater Baltimore area are more disposed to lying about sexual assault than anyplace else in America?" asked Branson of Turn Around. "Is it in the water? What exactly would make us the ones most likely to tell a story about being sexually assaulted?"
Uzarowski, who spent 35 years with the Police Department, said sex crimes investigations have come a long way. When he started, there was no specialized unit.
Officers scrutinize data more closely and with greater urgency, he said. A commander retrieves sex offense calls and checks to make sure they have been assigned to detectives. If not, "that's where we backtrack and find out whether there was no one on the scene, or was not anything suspicious, or a vacant building or a false call," Uzarowski said.
He and Lt. Jon Foster both said they were pleased at the results of a recent audit of last year's numbers.
"We probably have some of the best investigators around, and as such, I think we get to the facts," he said. "I really think that the protocols we have in place are some of the best."
Still, a significant number of claims don't make it to detectives.
Calls handled on the streets
Department statistics show that about 40 percent of the 911 calls involving rape allegations each year are determined not to have merit or result in reports not being taken at the scene. For most of those calls, there is no documentation of why they were handled in that way, officials say.
"That's a huge, huge number," said Joanne Archambault, a longtime San Diego sex crimes investigator who consults with major police departments and reviewed documents provided by The Sun. "They're not supposed to be unfounding these in the field."
Last year, there were a handful of publicized incidents in Baltimore in which women alleging rape said police failed to take a report. Three officers were suspended in September after failing to take a report from a woman in Northwest Baltimore. Police were also investigating an incident in which a 24-year-old nursing assistant said officers drove away and later ripped up a report after she told them that a man had raped her.
The department has received an average of about 900 calls alleging rapes or attempted rapes each year since 2003, with reports written in about 540 — or 60 percent — of those instances, according to records provided by the department.
A spreadsheet provided by the department showed that in about 50 calls each year, officers gave reasons for not taking reports, such as being unable to locate the victim or not being able to find the address.
But about 300 calls each year on average were more broadly dismissed, with designations such as "no police service necessary," or "complaint abated." The most prevalent option has been to simply mark them "unfounded," which officials say has been on the decline but is still troubling.
"Patrol [officers] ought to be bringing in the specialized units," said Adam Rosenberg, director of the Baltimore Child Abuse Center and a former city sex offense prosecutor. "They can't be making snap judgments out there. That's what those units are there for."
Deborah Holbrook administers the Sexual Assault Forensic Exam program at Mercy Hospital, which treats all city and county rape victims. As part of a task force of sexual assault responders, she said she has worked with police to better educate officers at district roll calls, including tips on preservation of evidence and how to interact with victims. Though she acknowledges that she is involved only in the medical aspect, she gives police high marks and said she wasn't aware of any concerns.
"We've been getting back to basics, retraining everybody, making sure everybody is understanding the rules," Holbrook said. "We don't have any big issues on our plate."
Many women who report attacks are less concerned with statistics than with receiving respect and compassion from police.
On the morning of Oct. 25, Danielle Mascioli was asleep with her girlfriend in their Linden Avenue apartment when the bedroom light went on. A masked man was standing at the foot of the bed, holding a knife. He began to tie Mascioli with a hairdryer cord and blindfold her.
Mascioli said the man took her aside and began to take off her shirt. Suddenly, her girlfriend ran from the room yelling and began knocking on neighbors' doors. The man fled.
In the report, police describe the incident as an attempted sex offense, and say the case was relayed to the sex offense unit and assigned to a detective — Anthony Faulk Jr., the detective with the high number of dismissed cases. The incident was publicized by police amid a string of rapes and attacks that occurred about the same time, mainly in East Baltimore.
In a subsequent encounter, she said, Faulk was rude and dismissive. She hasn't heard from him since, and doesn't particularly want to see him.
"This was such a life-changing event for me, and he didn't even care," she said. "Making victims feel safe is part of his job, and that part of the job description was completely out of the window.
" really didn't do anything," she said. "It wasn't my fault."
justin.fenton@baltsun.com
Link: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-md-ci-rapes-20100519,0,5338041.story?page=1&track=rss
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
25 comments:
i propose a return to chastity belts, now,NOT the bulky, heavy unfashionable kind of olden days.
something made out of a lighter material,carbon fiber,titanium, kevlar! yes!
NO penis could bust through that!. i mean, since rape is so rampant and all, 1 in every 4! lol. if that b.s stat were any kind of true. women would be armed. and why DONT they simply arm themselves?
well, if they did, no more excuses or attention. they counter that by saying and believing? that a 'lot of people lose the gun to the 'perp' and wind up using it on you'.lets end this rape crap. i'll get a patent on that new fangled chastity belt, complete with instructions to wear it, well, pretty much all the time, but especially on dates.
no more 'date rape' ladies! yeeehaww.then you gals can get wasted out of your minds and STILL wont get raped. it seems to me that real rape IS an actual problem in parts of africa,in fact,it's part of the culture in some countries over there and fem orgs HERE incorporate rape stats from africa.that's misleading at best.
they do the same thing with fgm. NOT a problem in the u.s unless youre male!
oh, yea, on my blog, as a response to the now well known fra wave in orlando,(3 in last month) some girl responded with this retort:
''well, i've been date raped 3 times, and never told anyone, so were even''.
i cant make this shit up. who ARE these fools? i responded: get into rehab, youre an alcohohlic, try to stay sober for a day and make better choices. now, i'll just remind her to strap on that ol chastity belt.haha
The increase in unfounded cases comes as the number of rapes reported by Baltimore police has plunged —from 684 in 1995 to 158 last year, a decline of nearly 80 percent. Nationally, FBI reports indicate that rapes have fallen 8 percent over the same period.
***
It's perfectly logical. As the number of real rapes as dropped, the number of false rape accusations has remained the same. Why would it be otherwise? False rape accusations are never punished so there is no deterrent in place.
As usual, the feminists are deeply disturbed that the facts don't fit their moonbat narrative in which the woman is always telling the truth and the man is lying. Now the police, media, and other powerbrokers of our society need to decide whether they are going to challenge the lies or hide the facts in order to protect the feminist McCarthyists.
The police detective's report reflects the tone of his questioning in the hospital room: Why had she waited two hours to call police? Why didn't she flag down a squad car? Where was she coming from before she was assaulted? Who was she with? Frustrated, the woman retracted her statement and signed a new one saying that nothing had happened.
***
So she recanted in spite of having massive vaginal injuries because she couldn't cope with such vicious questions as, "Why did you wait two hours"? "Who were you witch?" "Where were you coming from?
It is very strange indeed if she couldn't answer those very simple, obvious questions. Unless she really was making it up.
I wonder: what is the feminist solution to this "problem"? Should the police not be allowed to even ask where a witness was for two hours or who she was with? Apparently it isn't enough for "the victim" to remain anonymous while the target is dragged through the newspapers -- now we're not even supposed to establish what the facts were!
In feminism there are no facts. Whatever it is necessary to believe in order to reinforce the fiction that women are saints and men are demons is believed -- to hell with logic!
Let me say something now that is obvious to anyone who reads this blog regularly: one of the biggest lies told by feminists is that women are too frail to report being raped -- therefore they need special coddling and encouragement, and complete immunity from any sort of legal reprisal should it be determined that they were lying.
It's garbage. Contemporary women are the most outspoken, assertive Sex In the City-types who ever walked the planet.
When they are raped they want what we would want: REVENGE. In order to get REVENGE they would gladly endure some basic questions from police, and the mild (and inadequate) sort of challenges in court that are allowed under our over-protective rape shield laws.
Why would women who are used to getting whatever they want whenever they want it choose to either not report a rape or to drop a case after she's asked, "Who were you with?"
These women lie because the system allows them to. The woman who recanted her statement was lying, the 40% who are deemed non-credible are lying, and many of those that ARE deemed credible are lying.
This is like watching a trail of rats run across your living room rug. It's undeniable. But the feminist continues to insist that the rats aren't there. They will continue to do so until the rats chew through our ankles.
"One of the things we know is that victims do lie," said Gail Reid
If they're lying, how can they be victims?
But in many cases, detectives, in their own notes, appear to be pressuring victims by explaining the consequences of lying, promising to seek camera footage or cell phone records, and focusing on inconsistencies.
Verifying a rape account is "pressuring"? You should be happy the cops want to get camera footage of a rape. That is, if your goal is to catch rapists and not cover for liars.
Gail Reid's comment is bizarre, unless you make the counterintuitive assumption that her goal is to cover for false rape accusers, not to help legitimate rape victims.
Why any human being on this planet would want to do that is beyond me but that seems to be the case. What other explanation is there for deliberately lumping in victims with liars?
Unless she's just really confused and can't understand the word "victim."
"The 32-year-old woman was walking through a midtown alley last January when a man pressed a gun to her shoulder and told her, "Don't scream."
At the hospital, where she was treated for vaginal bleeding, the woman recounted being raped at gunpoint, in a vehicle with black leather seats. When it was over, her attacker told her to walk away slowly and not look back.
The police detective's report reflects the tone of his questioning in the hospital room: Why had she waited two hours to call police? Why didn't she flag down a squad car? Where was she coming from before she was assaulted? Who was she with? Frustrated, the woman retracted her statement and signed a new one saying that nothing had happened."
How does the reporter know that's what happened?
"...promising to seek camera footage or cell phone records, and focusing on inconsistencies."
And how is that wrong?
"This article refers to the women who made the reports as "victims" because that is how they have identified themselves, regardless of whether law enforcement agrees with that label."
Unbelievable.
"I'll have more to say about this article this coming week -- I'll analyze it closely."
Maybe I should wait for it then, because this article demonstrates such a profound ignorance of crime statistics, I'm tempted to say that some of it is based on sources that do not exist.
The new gender feminist / law enforcement misinformation Alliance is the perversion that has re-defined what the meaning oif is, is, in order to keep the true percentages of false rape accusations...and the current false rape culture that they have fostered..out of the publics view.
By calling a false rape accusation, "unfounded", they manufacture the misinformation that false rape accusations are only 2%, which is faulty and inflamatory missinformation that prejudices the public, and juries accross America. This Missinformation Alliance of the last 20 years is unconstitutional, but the patriarchy is so broken it cannot fix it. When the patriarchy is broken, it "Empowers" the Gender / Raunch community to start to lead the country, and look where they have led us.
"So she recanted in spite of having massive vaginal injuries because she couldn't cope with such vicious questions..."
To be fair, there are some women who may be actual rape victims who do become intimidated by questions. However, I would imagine such woman are the exception (rare exception, most likely).
When I read that open account you allude to, the first thing that occurred to me was that the author had carefully searched through such accounts of women dropping claims to find the most egregious appearing example possible.
As readers, we are supposed to unquestioningly believe that this is just a randomly selected example, demonstrating just how difficult it has become for women to report rapes. But, since no other similar example is given, I'm tempted to think that not only was that one example the very worst that could be found, it was also likely far outside the norm.
It more likely that the "typical" case is more like the ones described in which the teenager refused to cooperate further after being told that surveillance video would be checked, or the women who "though she might have been" assaulted after a night of heavy drinking, who whined that the quests asked of her seemed to question her motives for "thinking" that she "might" have been assaulted.
If, as I suspect, those latter two are far more illustrative of most cases of early recanters, I say let the public see more of the stories, and let them be the judge(s). I cannot imagine a bigger boon to our cause that to have the public learn the truth about most of these "unfounded" rape cases - refused to cooperate further when video surveillance was mentioned...that's a hoot, and also a very telling example of what we have long been saying.
Archivist, have you seen this?
Some question my assertion that "Rape hysteria" is the main tool for the "Empowerment" of the new Gender / Raunch community.
I say, The Rape hysteria marches that i have witnessed on campus, and on television, are NOW attended by around 85% Gender / Raunch community. By attacking the straw man that all hetero-sexual males are potenitial rapists, they defacto offer their "way of life and Adgenda", as the cure for all societies ills.
I do not beleive the new Gender / Raunch community are more gentle and beningn; and the answers to all of societies ills. Just look at the statistically more violent lesbian relationships for a taste of what the Gender / Raunch community answers to all societies ills are
"To be fair, there are some women who may be actual rape victims who do become intimidated by questions. However, I would imagine such woman are the exception (rare exception, most likely)"
Slwerner, the exceptions may not be as rare as you think. Most women are not radical feminists out to harm men. Most victims are in no shape mentally to relive the trauma of rape by answering intimidating questions by authorities who disbelieve their stories.
The number of rapes claimed by feminist activists on college campuses is a lie. Feminists lie about the rape numbers and women lie about being raped.
The problem is not that the police ask "victims" intimidating questions like, "Where were you in the two hours before you reported this?"
Rather, the problem is that we are allowing liars like her to get away with it. How can you give an entire class of criminal -- the false rape accuser -- a free pass to break the law and then to jump out of the frying pan as soon as the police become suspicious?
In one of the articles in another thread, a feminist says, "False rape reporting is no different than insurance fraud." Implying that it doesn't happen more often.
Can you imagine if the police refused to even ask questions of somebody who had filed an insurance claim that stank to high heaven? Everybody and her sister would be filing false claims if lying about them was made de facto legal.
Incidentally, if you're worried about legit rape victims recanting because they can't handle answering these simple questions, the answer isn't to give them even more incentive to recant by putting them above the law, but rather to punish those who contradict their testimony.
Once again, it's as if these feminists have the interests of false rape accusers at heart and really aren't serious about prosecuting real rapists. Their real target is men in general, not criminals.
"I'm, like, really bored with these stupid questions. Can I go? I want to go home and watch 'Pretty Little Liars,' okay?"
There exists a device that acts as a modern day chastity belt. It's called the Rape Axe and is produced in South Africa. The creator handed out 30k of the devices already during this year's world cup. Each device is serial numbered and can be registered online. The only issue is what happens when wicked women get hold of this device and use it contrary to its intended function
The 'rape axe' will be totally ineffective against rapists -- and the creator knows that. It's real purpose is terrorizing innocent men, who are the only ones who won't be sticking a finger in first.
Anonymous - "Slwerner, the exceptions may not be as rare as you think."
Neither you nor I have any legitimate idea how often this happens. I'm willing to believe that it does happen with some regularity, but I simply cannot believe that in the modern climate of rape victim support that it is anywhere near "the norm".
As another poster points out, "Contemporary women are the most outspoken, assertive Sex In the City-types who ever walked the planet."
Most women would not be easily intimidated out of filing a rape claim. That's why I've suggested that the author "cherry-picked" the one glaring example of what might well be seen as a rape victim being thusly intimidated out of her complaint. But, even then, we cannot be sure that, even if she was intimidated, that it was an actual rape she had claimed. There is simply no way to be certain.
"Most women are not radical feminists out to harm men."
Yes, but, many false rape claimants don't set out to harm the men who end up getting tageted. They just needed an excuse, and rape seemed like a good story to tell - bound to get loads of sympathy, and to throw the listener off of trail of the real story.
"Most victims are in no shape mentally to relive the trauma of rape by answering intimidating questions by authorities who disbelieve their stories."
Still, authorities DO NOT go into the questioning from a disbelieving standpoint. Their disbelief arises from inconsistencies in the account they are given. The police do not start out bullying victims (I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you some questions...); but, when facts don't add up, evidence suggests they are not being truthful, or the victims own story changes, then, yes, they're going to start "pressing" for better answers.
Recall the account of the teenager whose complaint ended when she learned that video was going to be reviewed. A real victim, who had already had the courage to come forward, would have been encouraged to learn that video could be used to help identify and catch her attacker. It's only those who know for certain that the video isn't going to support their stories who have such a change of heart.
Rape victims normally are not so traumatized that they can't answer basic questions, though. Rape victims are not infants.
For example, when author Alice Sebold was brutally -- and I mean REALLY brutally; threatened with a knife, raped, urinated on afterwards -- raped, she had no trouble answering questions about it, and was even making jokes about her nightmarish experience shortly after. (Her father offered her something to eat, and she said -- "Considering all I've had in my mouth in the past 24 hours is a..." etc!)
That is about as brutal as a rape can get, so I just don't believe the "Don't turn around!" storyteller when she says that being asked, "Where were you for two hours?" was traumatic.
These liars don't know what trauma is.
In one of the articles in another thread, a feminist says, "False rape reporting is no different than insurance fraud." Implying that it doesn't happen more often.
The more important implication is that it's as benign as insurance fraud.
And obviously it's not -- it's far worse. But I can't imagine anybody in law enforcement saying that insurance fraud is a victimless crime or that it shouldn't be prosecuted.
You would think that false rape accusations would be prosecuted at least as harshly as a lesser offense, such as identity theft or insurance fraud.
It happened to me in Baltimore. I was raped. I was drugged at 1722 Charles st , a late night club in Baltimore. When I woke up a Cuban named Raciel Zaldivar was raping me. I made it home & discovered a large bruise on my breast, lacerations inside my mouth & my tampon shoved up inside me. I was in pain& called 911. They did a rape kit & took my statement. They didn't bring him in until 2 weeks later, after the defense wounds I left on him were gone. after 3 months the detective told me after they took His statement that the State's attorney win't prosecute the case.
The city of Baltimore allied a foreigner to drug me , sexually assault me & get away with it. If you are a woman don't go to Baltimore. You think it can't happen to you, but bartenders are even paid off to do this in Baltimore. Get a gun & a switch blade & carry it at all times because the City of Baltimore does not care if someone assaults you. If My ancestor who signed the DOI could see the state of Baltimore he would roll over in his grave.
Post a Comment