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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse in NZ |
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I had always wondered
about the incidence of false rape complaints - wondering if was significant -
ie over 10%. Fairly shocked to see
in the NZ Herald an estimate that 60% to 80% of complaints are false. Such false complaints
are a lose-lose for all concerned. ·
They discourage actual rape victims from complaining,
because of the climate of suspicion that the false complaints generate ·
They can destroy a guy's life, even if later found to be
false ·
They can destroy the girl's life if it is widely known she
made a false complaint ·
They tie up a huge amount of police time better spent on
actual crimes It would be interesting
to know if there were any official figures to back up the 60% to 80%
estimate. Also whether there is any breakdown between false allegations
against a non identified person, and a false accusation against a specific
person (which in my opinion is worse). Rape is a horrific
crime, and frankly if I was ever to subscribe to vigilante justice, I'd be
most likely to do it to someone who raped one of my close female friends. I'd
quite happily throw them in a shark infested harbour. False accusations
trivialise actual rape victims. While sometimes the accuser has psychological
problems which need counselling not prison, I do wonder if the relatively low
level of prosecutions for such false accusations has led to a climate of
acceptability? |
