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The Evening Standard
February 3, 2004
False accusations
Letter to
the Editor
Name Withheld
Bevan Berg (Letters, January 30) took the wrong
meaning from your editorial and incorrectly interpreted it to mean "rape
suspects should be treated as guilty until proven innocent".
Regardless of the crime, when a crime is reported, the victim and witness
statements should initially be believed. It is then the job of the police to
find evidence that either supports or undermines this. It is important that
victims are not revictimised or further traumatised by being disbelieved.
As part of finding evidence, it is necessary to investigate all suspects.
Unfortunately, not all suspects are guilty and there is considerable trauma
to innocent suspects. All suspects must be treated with respect and not
treated as guilty, as this would produce another victim. However, it is not
the fault of genuine victims that some people give incorrect and sometimes
malicious statements.
Once the evidence has been gathered, police make judgments about whether
there is sufficient evidence to prosecute. The justice system then
establishes guilt.
While it must be very upseting to be falsely accused, rape suspects are no
worse off than suspects of other crimes. With false rape complaints leading
to prosecution, the false nature of the allegation is usually uncovered
within a few days. Rape suspects are rarely named publicly. Contrast this to
murder suspects, who often remain suspects for months or years and many get
named publicly. To keep law and order, it is necessary for innocent people to
be considered suspects while evidence is being gathered. This evidence is
needed to convict the guilty, not the innocent.
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