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This page last updated Jan
6 2005
2004-0612 - Peter
Ellis Org - Sexual abuse concerns :
Letter by Richard Christie - The following is a critique of Donna Ellen's response to
concerns about the manual for sex abuse allegations……..Unfortunately,
intransigence in identifying and dealing with ill founded dogma ultimately serves
to undermine public confidence in the agencies entrusted with the protection
of our children. The Ellen/START response to our concerns typifies such
intransigence. In the end it is the children who suffer
2004-0600 - St Albans
Neighbourhood News - Manual for Sex Abuse Allegations :
Letter To The Editor by Nancy Sutherland and Richard Christie - Your April
issue covered the launch at St Albans
Primary School of a manual that outlines procedures for use in the event that
sexual abuse allegations are made. Interest in this manual is apparently
being shown by social service groups, schools and pre-schools throughout New Zealand.
The manual's content, however, gives us cause for concern, and we believe it
should also concern anyone with an interest in the proper assessment of such
allegations.
2004-0510 - Editorial Note www.peterellis.co.nz:
The two articles included from the Southland Times are important in that for
the first time Rape Awareness Week is marked by intelligent discussion about
the real problem of abuse, while at the same time acknowledging problems of
false allegations. Both are real problems that deserve attention
2004-0510 - Southland Times -
Helping rape survivors
by Kirsty MacNicol - Rape Awareness Week has helped raise the awareness of
the problem……….One of the most difficult aspects for police was false
complaints, which were more frequent than people realised, he said. "You
only have to have a couple of those incidents and it can make it difficult
when you deal with a genuine person. You try to adopt a philosophy that you
treat people as you would have them treat you ... you can't be judgmental at
any phase."
2004-0510 - Southland Times -
Rise in sexual assaults prompts police warning
by Karen Potter - Police are urging young women in Invercargill to take
better care of themselves and each other. The warning follows an increase in
the number of reported sexual assaults in the city. ……….It was also important
women who made a complaint to the police told the truth. Often women were
scared their parents would find out they had been somewhere they were not
allowed. ….Sometimes women who had not told the truth when making their
complaint would come across as unreliable witnesses if their case went to
trial.
2004-0419 - NZ Herald
- Police attitudes to rape attacked
by Martin Johnston - Of 164 rape files from 1997: Police indicated:
21 per cent that they considered
the complaints genuine.
38 per cent that they were unsure
33 per cent that they considered
false.
8 per cent were withdrawn by the
complainants.
2004-0212 - Evening
Standard - False accusations
Letter to the Editor by Alan Radford - In the anonymous letter False
Accusations (February 3), the writer asserts that accusers and witnesses
should be believed until they become discredited. She ….concedes false
allegations must be 'upsetting' to those falsely accused, but she stops and
thinks/feels no further. Her reasoning depends upon a rapid, highly reliable,
honourable justice system. She also does not appear to begin to understand
what damage false allegations can do to men and families. In truth, the
effects can be so severe that it should be one of the most serious crimes.
2004-0207 - Dominion Post -
The realities of being raped
Letter to the Editor, Name withheld - A senior policeman told me recently
that if a person makes a rape complaint to police and then withdraws the
complaint because of emotional stress or fear of a court case, this is
recorded in the statistics as a "false complaint". This might
explain why so-called "false complaints" are on the rise.
2004-0203 - Evening
Standard - False accusations
Letter to the Editor, Name withheld - 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.
2004-0129 - Evening
Standard - False complaints
Letter to the Editor by Bevan Berg - You as an editor were a voice of social
values, and a guardian of journalistic responsibility. Now you must be
feeling somewhat empty having sold your soul to write "Tracking down the
sexually violent" (editorial, January 23). Such an eloquent diatribe
masks the conspiracy against your conscience -- your integrity ever hopeful
that deception would be its saviour. Quietly at the end you whisper your
betrayal of society, your condemnation of men: "The possibility of some
complaints turning out to be false is surely a small price to pay for
ensuring that the sexually violent among us are detected and put behind
bars."
2004-0123 - Evening
Standard - Tracking down the sexually violent
Editorial - But there are still many men for whom women are playthings and
for whom the notion of consent seems to be a trifle. The possibility of some complaints turning out to be false is surely
a small price to pay for ensuring that the sexually violent among us are
detected and put behind bars.
2004-0123 - Dominion Post -
A rape victim's view
Letter to Editor, Name Withheld - 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
2004-0122 - Dominion Post -
Misandry the cause?
by Jonathon Harper - I found Victoria University criminologist Jan Jordan's
article about false accusations of rape to be, in part, emotive, biased and
rhetorical (Features, Jan 15). ……..I expect a more sober, impartial, balanced
and evidence-based analysis from a senior university lecturer.
2004-0122 - Dominion Post -
Maths do not add up
Loretta Kemsley from California
presents an interesting interpretation of statistics. She foolishly compounds
her error by suggesting the police "do their arithmetic". The saying "Fools jump in where angels fear to tread", comes to mind.
2004-0122 - Dominion Post
- Justice in rape trials
by Peter Smith - At last you have exposed an issue of grave concern to me and
many other men. ….I was taken to the Auckland
court in 1984 to defend a false rape allegation. No evidence was brought to
substantiate the claim …..I was found guilty and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in
Paremoremo. At the rate of 471 false complaints a year, where do those of us
denied justice go?
2004-0119 - Evening
Standard - Rape victim slates police criticism of false complaints
by Anna Wallis - A Palmerston North rape victim has labelled police criticism
of false rape complaints as unjust, when fake theft and fire insurance claims
are more deserving of publicity.
2004-0119 - Evening
Standard - False complaints
Letter to the Editor by Darryl Ward - Your story about the police being sick
of receiving fictitious rape complaints comes as no surprise (January 14).
False allegations of sexual (and other) abuse are at a pandemic level, and
are made up for many reasons, such as for making ACC claims, destroying a
person's credibility in Family Court hearings and sometimes just attention
seeking. They are horrific crimes against humanity and against the persons
falsely accused
2004-0117 - Evening
Standard - False complaints
Letter to the Editor by Lionel A Richards - I applaud your courage and that
of the Manawatu Standard in publishing the story, Police Sick of False Sex
Complaints, which illuminates a seedier part of the truth about false
allegations and politically correct gender stereotypes (January 14).
2004-0116 - Evening
Standard - False complaints
Letter to the Editor by Bevan Berg - The suggestion by police that they are
going to get tough on false sexual allegations is not good enough. They
should in the past have had no hesitation in prosecuting any women making
such allegations.
2004-0114 - Evening
Standard - Police sick of false sex complaints
Police are vowing to get tough with women who get drunk on the weekend and
then turn up at the station saying they have been sexually assaulted.
Detective Sergeant Dave Clifford said the problem of false complaints --
particularly of sexual assault -- have become so frequent that police will
start prosecuting people who try to use a fictitious assault as a reason for
coming home late
2004-0113 - Dominion Post -
False rape complaints cost millions
by Haydon Dewes -
·
Police charged 471 people with making a false
statement in the year to June 30, 2003.
·
Since June, 1998, police have noticed an overall
rise in false statements made, with an average of 444 per year. There are no
records to show what they refer to, but police say the majority of false
complaints related to sex offences.
·
Police in Palmerston North are dealing with at
least one false rape or sexual assault complaint every week.
·
Police in Wellington
dealt with a spate of about 12 false sexual assault complaints in the space
of a month late last year
·
"It's out of control and it's frustrating as
hell."
·
A rise in false rape complaints is soaking up
police resources and costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year. Police
would continue to treat every complaint as genuine, but most had become more
cynical in their approach
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