The Law Should Not Call Accusers 'Victims'
Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta) wants to do something that is so fair, so just, so moral, that it is astounding anyone would question it. He has has introduced a bill in the George state legislature that would change the state criminal code where it refers to rape accusers as "victims." Rep. Franklin's bill, which has raised objection from the usual crowd, wants to call such people -- are you ready for this? -- "accusers."
Heaven forbid that the law should call people what they really are!
Rep. Franklin "gets" it. By labeling an accuser the "victim" before a single scrap of evidence has been admitted at trial, much less an adjudication of guilt, the law implicitly accepts the rape allegation as factual. The message it sends does a grave disservice to the presumptively innocent who are accused of such crimes since, by necessity, they must be guilty if their accusers are, in fact, "victims."
This is a no-brainer. But not to the politicized zealots who dominate the public discourse of these issues. According to The Huffington Post: "The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee writes, 'To diminish a victim's ordeal by branding him/her an accuser essentially questions whether the crime committed against the victim is a crime at all. Robbery, assault, and fraud are all real crimes with real victims, the Republican asserts with this bill.'"
And that's not all the Huffington Post writes:
"Rape and sexual assault are chronically underreported crimes. According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, '60% of rapes/sexual assaults are not reported to the police, according to a statistical average of the past 5 years. Those rapists, of course, never spend a day in prison. Factoring in unreported rapes, only about 6% of rapists ever serve a day in jail.' Under Franklin's definition, all of these people who didn't report their crimes aren't actually victims -- because there is never a conviction.
"'To be classified, off the bat, as an accuser instead of as a victim places one more barrier to reporting the crime to the authorities,' writes Amie Newman at RH Reality Check, who points out that Franklin's state of Georgia ranks 11th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia for incidences of forcible rape.
"Jennifer White, attorney for legal programs at the Family Violence Prevention Fund, said that even when victims do come forward, prosecutions and convictions are still often incredibly difficult to get.
"'Changing, just for these particular crimes, the word 'victim' to 'accuser' really buys into an outdated and disproved myth about victims who come forward with these kinds of allegations,' said White. 'I think it's a sad reality that for some reason, it's easier for society, in some respects, to believe that a victim would fabricate this type of crime than to believe that a person is capable of committing certain atrocities. And it really has a chilling effect for victims who already have an extremely difficult time coming forward.'"
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It is, of course, nothing short of morally grotesque to trivialize the suffering of the countless victims of false rape claims by insisting that false rape claims are "a myth." See here. Yet representatives of the sexual grievance industry say things like this without the slightest challenge from the mainstream media.
In any event, kudos to Rep. Bobby Franklin for trying to do the right thing.
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20 comments:
It is a no brainer for people who have a brain.
The Huffpost comments regarding this topic are beyond sickening...
Although, from a larger perspective, perhaps this change shouldn't only apply to accusations of rape, but accusations of other crimes as well. For example, false accusations of non-sexual assault are not uncommon, although they are less damaging than accusations of sexual assault.
Remember men...
She CAN lie about harassment!
She CAN lie about rape!
She CAN ruin your life!
She has power OVER you!
She is ENABLED by the Patriarchy (chivalry) and the Matriarchy (feminism) to falsify a crime against you!
Know safety and practice safety around women everyday in your life!
Feb 6, 2011 10:42:00 AM
Perhaps I should stop reading them, but so far my favorite is this,
"The FBI crime stats show that the percentage of false rape accusations is no higher than false accusations of any other crime, or at about 3-6%,
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/crimestats"
which links to a page that doesn't show that.
As i have said here before, It may be the more conservative states that first set in motion the "Dis-Empowerment" of the American gender-raunch community first.
The "American Gender-raunch community" have become social, cultural, Super-powers by their "multiple intertwined misinformation Alliances" with American law enforcement who cooperate with them.
States that are not that "Gender-Raunch" friendly may in fact be the first to cut off their "Empowerment rhetoric" where it starts, which is now with law enforcement semantics games and American law enforcement protocol perversions.
I agree with you anon.
As long as this site will let you, keep making your assertions.
Judges,courts and the entire LE system has run with the abuse of power engendered
by VAWA lawz.
They have become a rabid pitbull frothing at the mouth with unconstitutional
Power and need a serious correction.
When the law is unlawful the people are in great sorrow.
Why not call people who have been murdered "murder accusers" because nothing's been proven. Maybe they wanted to die. They were asking for it, you know.
Because there is evidence of a crime in a murder. The body.
Rape is the only crime where there need be no evidence. The word of a lone accuser is enough to send a man to prison for 40+ years.
I realize it's difficult to understand that handful of words, but try.
Zarko's comment was funny.
The idiot who doesn't understand that "consent" is often disputed, and that lying about rape is common, deserves to be ridiculted. This site is a magnet for misandrists because we effectively challenge their inane narrative.
Any of you manhaters want to debate, ya need to first read through this blog -- it'll take you several weeks -- then you'll know what you're talking about.
The honourable lawmaker has in fact just created the perfect shit test / misandrist hate-monger cum terrorist detector ever invented... for that alone... respect... lmao
Feminists have long tried to create the impression that every gain women have made has had to be bitterly fought for in the face of fierce resistance from men. In reality, though, there has been very little organized opposition and resistance (until recently) from men to most of the women's rights agenda. Rather, men in general have either been acquiescent, apathetic, or openly supportive of most of it.
On the other hand, whenever men start demanding equal rights in areas like the family law or due process for those accused of certain crimes, there is invariably a deafening chorus of denunciation from women's advocates. The reactionary forces of the matriachy stand there like a cross, angry guard dog, determined that men won't get one scrap of what women currently have.
The truth is that women tend to feel a lot more threatened and insecure whenever they feel that what they see as their prerogatives are under threat, or if there is even a hint that genuine gender-blind equality is on the cards.
"it's an attempt to control women" - comment on this article.
Riiiiight...
I do recall I didn't want my name attached to this.....
Read the email?
that's great! but, it's not enough. then, the male should be called as victim, as soon as he was charged with abuse, because there was a big chance of false-rape call.
g.k.
Everyone needs to write LETTERS OF ENCOURAGEMENT to Bobby Franklin.
He probably does not even know that FRS exists. Imagine if he came here and read up, learning how bad things are.
We would have a champion.
That this no-brainer action does not automatically enter the minds of men is a large part of how things got this bad to begin with.
Write LETTERS TO HIM!
I read about this on Jezebel and the title was: Conservative Lawmakers No Longer Attempting To Disguise The Fact That They Hate Women
They amount of illogical arguments will make your head explode. Really its like an eco chamber there. The logic is that a person that has been robbed or killed is called a victim makes no sense in the case of robbery there is something missing on the house and on the case of killing someone died, in the case of an accusation there needs to whole process to know if the sex was consensual, if there was sex or not, or even if the person ever knew the "rapist" really Feminism might start call itself Victimism and call it a day
Kudos to Rep. Franklin for doing what is right and honorable.
The Huffington Post diatribe is a perfect illustration of the power of stupid people in large groups.
Once you wade through all of the fallacies, ad homs, red herrings, and strawmen from the SGI, all that remains are facts that are in stark contrast to SGI mythology.
I have deleted an anonymous comment from someone who claims to "know the Franklins." He or she claims to "go to church with his family" and to "eat hot dogs with him at Brandi's."
I have deleted the comment because we do not allow unsupported assertions that someone knows someone else. And more important, this person suggests that we are in some way, shape or form "in support of rape."
I should sue you for slander. You have no idea what this blog is about if you think that. If you want to understand what we do here, think Duke lacrosse. You must have heard of that in between your hot dog eating, right? Or the Scottsboro Boys. Remember them? They were falsely accused of a vile crime.
See, brave anonymous person who doesn't have the decency or the courage to reveal yourself, this site gives voice the FALSELY accused.
We hate rape as much as you or "Bobby" do. We have rape victims who write to us and tell us they support us. But we want rape victims to be believed, so we need to eliminate the false accusations.
Get it?
If "Bobby" wants to treat young men like the Duke players as rapists, then no sane person should support him. I won't assume that about him.
Now go back to your hot dog. Don't write here again.
P.S. To our readers: see some of the goofy nonsense I put up with here? Hot dogs with the Franklins.
Wow!
Honestly, I'd love to find out who some of these people are and just sue them.
why do so many people have a problem with this? if the person being charged can be called the "accused" why can't we call the person who is making the accusation(which is what it is because it hasn't been proven) the "accuser"? And exactly how does this show "how much men hate women?" This would apply to both sexes if they were to bring this type of accusation. For feminists to be so big on equality, sometimes I think they are more sexists than the average person, and I'm saying this as a woman. I support the bill because it could bring about some equality by calling them "the accused" and "the accuser" instead of "the accused" and "the victim", which already makes the person look guilty by automatically assuming the person making the claim is a "victim." Whatever happened to "innocent until proven guilty?"
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