Emily Bazelon, stop! Just stop!

yakon · 2013-12-07T09:05:27+00:00

You know, I completely believe that it's uncommon for victims of rape to lie, and that false rape claims are relatively rare. In fact, I believe that about the majority victims of any crime.

However, the entire reason we have a criminal justice system is that sometimes people do lie - or even have different interpretations of the same event, and we can't tell just by looking at them. We have to go through and weigh all the facts and evidence. And this doesn't change based on the type of crime.

chavelah · 2013-12-07T19:17:59+00:00

What does it tell us when the vast majority of reported sexual assault claims can't even pass the probable cause test?

What it tells ME is that most college rapes occur in he-said, she-said situations, and that this university is responsibly declining to throw young people into the shredder without any corroborating evidence for their mutual accusations. "He raped me!" "She's lying!" In most acquaintance-rape cases, only those two will every really know the truth about what happened.

Most rapes can't be proven to have happened. Most rapes should not be prosecuted. But that doesn't mean they don't happen. It should not be considered a sign that the accuser is lying when the accusation cannot be proven. That is the mindset that causes colleges and prosecutors to pursue weak cases - they don't want to come off as disbelieving the alleged victim. We need to get out of this way of thinking.

2013-12-07T21:13:41+00:00

False rape claims are relatively rare in the context of surveys where every claim is accepted as true, and none are tested against competing claims, and evidence, of innocence.

Great line there.

However, I will say this about the article that Emily wrote. She's probably correct in that the police should have acted faster in this case. The information should have immediately been given to the state attorney. The "well there wasn't enough evidence" isn't a valid excuse. That's for the state attorney to decide.

Secondly, the press conference was a joke. And somebody who has been a state attorney for as long as Meggs has been should have known better than to use this conference to joke around in. There are really two outcomes that he's announcing here. 1. That somebody was raped. and 2. That somebody has been falsely accused of being a rapist. Both are terrible things, and the amount of levity present in the conference was simply unprofessional.

And since it feels like I'm taking Emily's side too much (her article is in general garbage, even though she has those two good points) let me take some time to bash her. She says:

Winston’s claim that the sex was consensual doesn’t convince me that it was. Nor do the statements backing him that two of his teammates gave to the police just within the past month.

Oh, so in a she said (but doesn't remember much)/multiple people said case she decides that she can divine the truth? And she just decides that the black guy is guilty? How cute.

Title	Emily Bazelon, stop! Just stop!
Author	PierceHarlan
Upvotes	44
Comments	5
Date	December 7, 2013 3:39 AM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/1sal9z/emily_bazelon_stop_just_stop/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/emily-bazelon-stop-just-stop.1156839 https://theredarchive.com/post/1156839

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