RINJ is an international organization that seeks removal of web and other media content that condones sexual violence. We agree with its mission. It is a serious victim's advocacy group.
RINJ today expressed interest in beefing up the laws against false rape claims. Needless to say, we applaud these efforts. We have long believed that the false rape problem hurts not only the innocent persons falsely accused but rape victims as well. The following is from RINJ's Facebook page dated Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 7:45pm:
"In the discussion of creating a law that makes a criminal offence of a false allegation of rape, we see the emergence of some of the reasons victims are reluctant to report a crime against them. If false allegation of rape were implemented in the Criminal Code of the commomnwealth of nations, prosecutors would not need to find such "tricky" roundabout methods to prosecute these crimes. Moreover, defence attornies for alleged rapists will not be able to invoke some airy-fairy urban legend about false allegations but instead, both sides of the court and the jury will have bona fide statistics based on a statute's implementation.
"We submit that the number of false allegations of rape is small but that in each case the consequences are horrific and create a victim who in some minds is no less damaged than a rape victim. We further advance that the penalty for a person convicted of making false allegations of rape be commensurate with those issued to actual rape offenders.
"We have two goals in mind. We want juries to be more free to convict rapists in a comfort zone provided by law and case law with strict maximum penalties for false allegations and good litmus tests for fact finding.
"Secondly, because the method for dealing with false allegations is wishy-washy at best, providing a good law will alleviate the ambiguity. Too many people throw the word around like it was a swear word. That must end. Don't scream "fire" unless there is a fire. Don't scream "rape" unless there is a "rape". We want all rapes reported and hence need to to remove the fear victims have that they will not be believed.
"Because it is so easily done and because there are no statistics available about false rape allegations, creating law to deal specifically with false allegations will benefit our mission in ending rape. We will all have useful statistics that will likely show false allegations to be rare and done only by easily identifiable character types. Rape is no joke. The word should never be used unless in the case of a "Rape"."
RINJ dot Org has invited all interested parties to participate in a Facebook discussion in which RINJ has advanced the argument that there should be a separate law that allows for the prosecution of false allegation of rape.
Read about it here: http://www.wireservice.ca/index.php?module=News&func=display&sid=7309
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13 comments:
RINJ assumes that FRA are a small percentage of the overall number of rape allegations, and that the FRA are done by a certain character type. Laws increasingly define "rape" by ever more creative standards with much of the thinking originating from feminists. My concern is that RINJ's call doesn't get twisted to prosecute lightly FRAs("to some maximum extent") while being too quick to convict the accused (we have discussed here at the FRS the increasing long-term problems with decades old accusations). I am skeptical about the bias of social conservative white knight and progressive law makers, SGI, and feminists that are the influential powers behind the laws.
Aharon
I too would be happy to see this law implemented. My false rape accuser later went on to kill another man as she continued her crime spree. Had she been properly investigated in 2003 for her false rape accusation; she would not have committed manslaughter in 2009 in San Diego.
If you don't believe me, look at what happened in the Crystal Magnum case. Crystal Magnum is the False Rape accuser in the Duke Lacrosse case. Crystal Magnum later went on to kill her boyfriend, Reginald Daye. If these women are not held accountable for there crimes they will later go on to commit greater crimes and even murder. Thank you FRS for standing for truth and Justice.
Aharon - "I am skeptical about the bias of..."
Given the realities of today, a healthy bit of skepticism is certainly in order.
Still, I found it hopeful that they chose to publicly address the issue, and even to use some of the very language that this site has been introducing in to the discourse
* ”…false rape problem hurts not only the innocent persons falsely accused…”
* ”…creating a law that makes a criminal offence of a false allegation of rape…”
* “…false allegation of rape were implemented in the Criminal Code…”
* “…but that in each case the consequences are horrific and create a victim who in some minds is no less damaged than a rape victim”
* “…the penalty for a person convicted of making false allegations of rape be commensurate with those issued to actual rape offenders.”
* “…case law with strict maximum penalties for false allegations and good litmus tests for fact finding.”
* “Too many people throw the word around like it was a swear word. That must end.”
* “…creating law to deal specifically with false allegations will benefit our mission in ending rape.”
Even though they’ve included a lot of SGI-inspired “spin”, they still manage to hit on some of the long-standing and oft discussed core themes of this site.
I keep saying that, even if people will never cite it, this site IS having an influence on the public discourse, and even seems to be shaping the direction of at least one agency in the SGI fold.
It used to be that almost no one would even listen to those pointing out the FRA issue, and simply denied it exists. Then, they started to try to down-play it. Then they took to attacking the messengers of it.
Now, it seems, they have started to acknowledge it, and offer proposals (even if still rather incomplete) to deal with it.
It’s way too early to for any victory dances, but this is some encouraging progress.
There is only one way to return integrity to the rape accusation, and that is to charge the ones who cry rape for such trivial reasons as they dont want to pay their cab fare.
We have a healthy respect for persons victimized by sexual assault and rape. We sincerely believe that by not tolerating misuse of the word "rape," we not only protect the innocent from false accusations, but we enhance the integrity of rape victims.
What worries me is - how long is it, until this RINJ is taken over by radical fems, and twisted into something it wasn't meant to be.
Isn't that a huge problem in our society today?
It seems like no matter how noble the initial effort is, eventually, these "victims advocacy" groups eventually run low on funds, then broaden their definitions - that is, eventually any sexual content will be tagged as "sexual violence". Isn't that how many women see sex to begin with?
Oh - nevermind.
Sorry to have brought this up.
I applaud their efforts of taking on the "pro-sexual violence" industry" - whatever that is.
Good that we finally have an anti violence group that admits false accusations are a problem & wants to help to end them,-I applaud RINJ & their efforts.
slwerner,
You've brought up some strong points. I agree with what you wrote that it is encouraging.
Thanks,
Aharon
Enabling false rape accusers is a stain on American law enforcement. All the federal pork bloating dollars for manufacturing statistics have perverted American law enforcement. Perversions of the course of justice are now routine!!
Sounds good as far as it goes, but RINJ's statement that false rape allegations are rare seems to me a telltale symptom of possible feminazis in sheep's clothing. At the very least I would want to see a statement from RINJ directly rejecting broad definitions of "rape" such as those found in Sweden, Israel, and on many American college campuses.
In particular, it is very common for adult women to go out and drink before taking a stranger to bed. The fact that they have done this does not make it rape -- rather, anyone of legal drinking age must be presumed to have planned the whole thing in advance (just as drinking should never be an excuse for men to misbehave and avoid responsibility afterward).
You would do well to further investigate the tactics of RINJ before choosing to align yourself with this group. They are well known to minimize the experiences of actual victims and entirely dismiss those of male survivors. I hardly think that is what your group is aiming for.
Hoping to be helpful, RINJ dot Org would like to respond to some of the comments here.
"What worries me is - how long is it, until this RINJ is taken over by radical fems, and twisted into something it wasn't meant to be."
Heaven help us, "Scarecrow".
Many people have come to RINJ with bogus complaints seeking to ridicule or attack an alleged perpetrator. RINJ relies on the Commonwealth of Nations' judiciary wherein a person is innocent until proven guilty and wherein it is better that ten guilty men go free than one innocent man go to jail.
This requires exceptional jurors we all must rely on. Once the finder of fact has made its determination, it is a fact. That's how most democratic judicial systems work.
Lobbying organizations like RINJ may seem to some as a viable step in advancing their arguments in court, but NGO's have a significant burden in making the right decision to stay clear of matters yet adjudicated.
In the event that a self-claimed victim manufactures a false and damaging accusation, the damage is unfathomable and may be even worse than the damages done to a real victim hence RINJ has advanced the argument for very strict penalties for rapists and exactly the same penalties for false accusers.
That may seem harsh but a closer look at the facts yields few other conclusions.
A false accusation is not one that fails to meet its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt; it is a matter of adducing with mens rea (criminal intent) false evidence of any kind for the wrongful purpose of making a false accusation against a person.
The United States Department of justice is relied on for many statistics. For the number of instances of men raped by women the numbers have thus far been statistically insignificant as well there have been allegations deemed to be false also statistically insignificant meaning that the numbers are less than the probability of statistical error.
Someone has brought this discussion in a link away from this page and so I try to bring it back here.
On the matter of false rape allegations, RINJ dot Org is committed to dealing with the issue because there needs to be a prolific understanding around the world, particularly in India, China and the United States, that all rape claims are to be taken seriously.
Let's look at the USA first and the prompt complaint requirement, corroboration requirement, and cautionary instructions in the criminal law of rape.
These doctrines have greatly weakened in the formal criminal law of the fifty states and the District of Columbia because studies reveal that most victims of rape do not promptly complain to the police or other authorities, most rapes do not produce corroborating evidence, and most jurors are already cautioned by an underlying societal bias against those who claim rape.
RINJ seeks a shift away from the underlying societal bias against those who claim rape. We seek to do that using society's own methods of crime/punishment in context.
Any bias of doubt about a claim must be sheared off at the start because of RINJ's proposed extreme penalties for giving false evidence of a rape crime that did not occur.
Did you know that 85% of all American contested family law (divorce and child custody battles) allege some kind of sexual wrong-doing yet upon investigation only 2% ever have any semblance of truth to them, yet none of these numerous false claims are ever prosecuted. This leaves society with a strong bias that is unhelpful to real rape claimants.
Heretofore, most false sexual assault claims went unpunished and because it is so easy to make a false rape claim and the penalty so benign there have been many, causing genuine rape claims to not be prosecuted on the balance of probability which is not the correct burden of proof for a criminal case in court and therefore should not be the basis for deciding carriage of the file.
RINJ seeks a shift away from this underlying societal bias against those who claim rape. We seek to do that using society's own methods of crime/punishment.
RINJ is advancing that all rape claims be treated as bona fide no matter how extraordinary the statement of the victim/witness might be, it should be investigated properly and the witness given the benefit of any doubt under pain of perjury and pain of prosecution under a new statute.
The system tells jurors to weigh witness statements on their credibility and the fact that the witness is obligated to be truthful under the pain of punishment for perjury. We say add to that a penalty commensurate with the crime of rape for making a false allegation of rape.
Enormous damages are done by making a false allegation of rape to the police, media, and the courts. One of the biggest damages is to the credibility of rape victims in the eyes of jurists. We all need to work together to fix that.
Our proposed method is just a start and one of many ideas but by bringing to the issue discussion of a new specialized statute to punish false rape claimants, we are putting pressure on the justice system in the Commonwealth of Free Nations and more importantly on society in general to trust rape victim-witnesses.
That is a powerful motivation for our working within society toward fixing this problem.
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