FRS COMMENT: As you read the news story below -- which is typical of the coverage of false rape claims -- notice how the emphasis is entirely on women. First, hypothetical women who are said to be hurt by false claims. Second, the poor false accuser whose life has been harmed by her life. There is no mention if the man she accused was arrested and charged. Nor is there a mention of hypothetical victims of the crime at issue -- which are almost always men and boys.
SHERIFF CRITICAL OF TEEN IN FALSE RAPE CLAIM
A Sheriff has criticised a teenager who falsely accused a man of rape for undermining measures designed to protect victims of sexual abuse.
Louise Creighton was sentenced to community service at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday after she admitted making a false allegation against a man with whom she had slept.
The 18-year-old was at university “trying to find herself” and made the claim because she felt guilty for sleeping with the man because she had a girlfriend, the court heard.
Sheriff Annella Cowan said: “This kind of behaviour undermines the whole system which attempts to protect women who are genuine victims.
“The amount of time and energy that was spent investigating a completely false allegation was quite considerable.”
Fiscal depute Karen Dow said “numerous” police officers, including a forensic unit, were involved in the investigation, which “wasted” a total of 70 man-hours.
Creighton had met the man at a music festival and invited him to a party at her flat in the city’s Mealmarket Exchange student accommodation when he went to Aberdeen on October 1 last year, the court heard.
The pair slept together but she began to cry immediately afterwards, told him to leave and told friends she had been raped, Miss Dow said.
Police launched an investigation and it was two days later, while she was being interviewed, that Creighton confessed she had lied.
She told officers that she had a girlfriend and “did not feel comfortable” that she had slept with the man.
Defence agent Mike Allan said Creighton had been “staying in the country” at St Fergus before going to Aberdeen to study photography at university.
“She was really trying to find herself and find out exactly where she was and her identity as far as sex was concerned,” he said.
“She knew immediately she made the allegation that it was a very, very serious mistake.”
He said the incident had “ruined her life so far” and Creighton, listed in court papers as living at 505 Mealmarket Exchange, had left the university course without graduating.
The sheriff said: “The allegation you made was extremely serious.”
She sentenced Creighton to 180 hours of community service as a direct alternative to jail.
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22 comments:
"She told officers that she had a girlfriend and “did not feel comfortable” that she had slept with the man."
Probably included in the press account as a way to encourage some sympathy for the poor, confused darling; but, it serves to highlight the point made here often - women are much more likely to feel regrets about casual sex, and some of them will recast it as having been rape.
Instance like this are becoming too common, it seems, as they evoke few, if any, comments. Just a couple of years ago, we’d have seen a dozen or more comments expressing outrage. But, now, it seems that we look at these stories, and shrug, “what’s new?”.
Yet, the numbers of FRA’s with known motives continue to mount. It would be nice if all news accounts of FRA’s included any known motivations, as I still believe that knowing “why” helps the general public to accept the realities of the crime.
Now, if only all these stories in the FRS archives had searchable tags (i.e. “regret”, “illicit sex”, “cover-up” and “recantation” for this one), it would make it possible to use simple searches to point out specific patterns that emerge from all these accounts of FRA, and which the FRA-apologists, and FRA-deniers would be hard-pressed to try and refute.
"Instance like this are becoming too common, it seems, as they evoke few, if any, comments."
I was thinking about that myself. Our audience is now massive, but I can sense people out there just shaking their heads in agreement with us. I always appreciate insights like you bring, and encourage everyone else to add their two cents even if you think it's already been said a thousand times.
As for searchable tags, it's not too late, and it's a great idea. But we need to get really specific about it in order for it to be worthwhile.
Slwerner's comment is spot on. If you had asked me a year ago about whether or not an adult would make a false rape accusation, I would have simply asked "Why would someone lie about something like that?" And that is indeed the question that everyone asks. For someone who doesn't read this website and is not familiar with the numerous examples I just ask the counter question, "Why would anyone murder someone? There aren't truthfully rational reasons, but people do."
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/woman_convicted_prison_pitino_extortion_yr6sc8iIc11ruN73zELJoI
Halleluja!!
The press sure did not ask the man how he felt about it, nor would he feel safe to reply.
I bet he has PTSD problems the rest of his life.
Not even the off the wall claims that he could and should sue in civil court for reparations.
You may be able to find a rare case of such reparations, but it is not the norm.
At the very least she should have gotten a bill for so many man hours at such a rate.
The probation she got would not be admissible evidence in her next FRA case.
There was a genuine rape here, but it was the "justice" system raping the man.
His only recourse is to be reclusive and pray it never happens again.
“She knew immediately she made the allegation that it was a very, very serious mistake.”
Oh, OK...
Police launched an investigation and it was two days later, while she was being interviewed, that Creighton confessed she had lied.
Now, I have always understood lawyers to be in the business of distorting reality. I should have realised that distortion would apply to time as well.
Immediately? Two days? Longer in terms of when she told "friends".
Damn me, this lawyer's a Time Lord.
Speaking of lawyers, Pierce Harlen claims to be one, but does anyone know where he got his law degree?
Anonymous said...
Speaking of lawyers, Pierce Harlen claims to be one, but does anyone know where he got his law degree?
Feb 18, 2011 8:28:00 PM
...and the answer to that question matters because??????
I mean...just askin'.
Speaking out against the current sexual hysteria deep freezing this country is a treacherous and unpopular thing to do.
But it must be done.
Cause it's getting worse every day.
"...and the answer to that question matters because??????"
It matters because readers are curious. Normally, a blog owner will provide a complete bio on himself, but Harlen provides zilch. Strikes me (and others) as odd.
Is it such a difficult question for him to answer?
Given the nature of this blog, I would not be surprised if there were serious risks to the authors' identity and location being known. I would not be surprised if Pierce Harlan is a pseudonym. And if it is not a pseudonym, it would be easy for someone wishing to do Pierce harm to find him by knowing an extra bit of information.
That said, I let people speak for themselves. The writing on this blog is superb given how frequently updated the blog is and the reality that these men have real lives. The writing proves Pierce to be a percipient mind well-deserving of the readership's respect.
freedom - "Given the nature of this blog, I would not be surprised if there were serious risks to the authors' identity and location being known."
Indeed. The first thing that came to my mind when I read the anonymous posters question as to Pierce Harlan's academic credentials was that it was someone trying to "find" him for some presumably nefarious purpose.
One way that such a person with such intent might seek to try to silence this blog would be to try to target his personal practice.
Frankly, for his sake, I hope Pierce Harlan is his pseudonym rather than the name he practices law under.
Nope, not getting into my/our "true" identity. This isn't a blog where we give legal advice other than to say, get a qualified lawyer practicing in your jurisdiction. Revealing who we are would compromise our ability to carry out our mission.
I say this without any invitation to open discussion about it -- because this is the end of the discussion about it -- if you don't like me/us, or this blog, that probably means we're doing a good job. Seriously, go find another blog. This isn't Speaker's Corner at Hyde Park, and you have no First Amendment (or as one idiot comment wrote "Fourth Amendment") rights here.
The more popular we get, the greater the attacks from people who understand our message is getting through.
The mother fucking asshole who wants to know what law school you attended is a shit-faced feminist whom you'v probably offended many times over by speaking the truth. They are looking to use this information against you.
You should just scrap the comments. I promise you that every angry feminist is reading this blog, getting wet with excitement, thinking about how awful you are to speak up for a forgotten class of citizens.
Nobody asked Pierce Harlan to reveal his identity. As somebody commented earlier, he is STILL dancing.
Additionally, nobody asked him for legal advice. Ditto: He should work on keeping his self-praise in check.
Other Anon, thanks for the support.
Go fuck yourself.
HA HA! I'm literally chuckling out loud, and flattered that I can get under someone's skin so much.
Yep. Still "dancing." And, no, my personal information is none of your business, troll.
P.S. Normally, I'd delete the "go fuck yourself" comment because it's so uncivil, but I think it's kind of funny in this context. Go take a laxative, pal.
Alright, this is enough. Someone called the angry person who wants to know what law school "Pierce Harlan" attended the "c" word. This is what the battle of the sexes leads to with angry young feminists. And unfortunately, people see the "c" comment and assume we must hate women.
I think this blog would be better off without comments, and will communicate with my blog partner about it. Bill at Spearhead told me he gets a ton of hate comments, too, and I suspect his and our blog are the leaders in terms of attracting the lunatic fringe.
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