Snowcannon wrote:The problem is that the rape and sexual assault conviction rates are so low, are victims really getting a 'fair shake of the stick'.
Out of the 98% or so of rape cases that get unconvicted, how many are really likely to be a case of the victim lying? There will be some for sure, but I doubt it's a significant percentage.
I think this is at the heart of it, and it's a terrible statistic, made all the worse by the emotive nature of the crime.
So naturally, the instinct is to lower the evidential bar for prosecutions. But I think that's even more problematic, perhaps exactly because it's so emotive.
Witch hunt is an overused term, but I think the real medieval example is important. An original witch allegation could be made by anyone, and at that point the burden of proof for innocence would fall on the accused. Because, after all, a witch would naturally lie and say they weren't a witch, wouldn't they?
Reasonable logic, leading to conviction, punishment and even the deaths of many women, even though there's clearly no such flipping thing. Rightly, that's now regarded as ludicrous, and the burden of proof of wrongdoing therefore always falls on the prosecution.
Which does unfortunately mean that many criminals are wrongly freed.
But I think that's got to be better than the other way around, no matter how horrible the crime. If you were accused of something, wouldn't you deserve your response? And for your response to be weighted equally, and be judged on the actual facts?
In fact, as point of principle, that's especially important the more horrible the crime is. Otherwise, it's all just outraged mob justice.
And yes, people do lie in accusations, for a whole range of reasons. Leave aside medieval witch hunts - even now, someone has recently gone to jail for making up allegations of paedophillia, torture and murder. He seems to have been a damaged individual and a fantasist, but he destroyed many people's lives as a result and was allowed to do that precisely because he was believed unquestioningly.
Besides, a lot of what has been discussed here isn't rape, or even an actual crime. It's sleazy behaviour but the two really should not be conflated. You might not like how someone behaves, or how you think they've behaved, and fair enough. But it's a different matter altogether.
Regardless, this seems to be trial by internet, which may or may not have caused someone to kill themself. Whatever, anyone publicly accusing someone of something they know nothing about should be ashamed of any part they have played in that.
I'm surprised this thread hasn't been locked and / or deleted.