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The Dominion Post
January 23, 2004
A rape victim's view
Letter to
the Editor
Name Withheld, Palmerston
North
I was pleased to see your article, Trouble lurks
behind `false' rape complaints by Jan Jordan (Features, Jan 15). As a rape
victim, it helped to some extent to ease the distress I felt reading, False rape
complaints cost million (Jan 13).
Other points need considering.
Other crimes have much higher false reporting rates. Theft and fires are
often insurance scams, and over-claiming for items stolen after genuine theft
is common. Where are the headlines about this?
Though it is difficult for a genuine rape victim to report the crime, the
whole point of the false claim is to report it. This means that all false
rape claims come to the attention of police but they are notified of only a
few of the genuine cases.
Withdrawal of a rape complaint does not indicate that the original claim is
false -- it is difficult to go through with a rape complaint. Nor does
failure to prove the charge indicate a false claim -- rape is very difficult
to prove. How many so-called "false" complaints have been proven
false?
Highlighting false complaints make it even more difficult for genuine cases
to come forward and increases the distress felt by those dealing with the
devastating effects of rape.
Highlighting a particular false rape complaint rewards a person already
seeking attention.
Police must treat every reported crime sensitively and investigate regardless
of their personal feelings and previous experience.
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