How many false rape accusations are actually made?

mythin · 2012-10-08T21:43:26+00:00

The short answer is "We don't know."

The long answer is "Somewhere between 2% and 90%" In other words, we really don't know.

The commonly accepted answer is somewhere around 6%. If you need to use a number, this is the "safest" number to use.

Wikipedia actually has a good breakdown on this with links to different studies that have gotten different numbers. Using the actual sources is probably a better bet than just getting a number from us.

2012-10-08T23:25:39+00:00

It is hard to tell. Most MRA's feel that rape accusations are treated as "guilty until proven innocent" in courts. So if an innocent man went to jail on a false accusation, it would still be counted as a true accusation.

MechPlasma · 2012-10-09T08:01:43+00:00

Actually, to explain this further: it's literally impossible to determine the rate of false rape allegations. Because that would involve knowing who is and who isn't lying when there's no evidence either way.

The 2% - 6% actually refers to the rate of what allegations were found to be false, and not the actual rate - and it really really pisses me off when people think they are. The actual number can be anything up to 100 - whatever the conviction rate is.

pcarvious · 2012-10-09T09:23:52+00:00

Another potential issue that runs tangent to this is; how many men are innocent but a rape did occur.

Example: a man is arrested for matching the physical.characteristics of the rapist. He did not commit the crime but is unable to get a good lawyer to handle the case. Case either goes to trial or a plea deal is offered and the man ends upin jail and later prison.

Because of no drop policies these events happen more frequently than is want. This is why the innocence project is so important.

HoopyFreud · 2012-10-08T22:43:38+00:00

[permanently deleted]

rightsbot · 2012-10-08T21:26:19+00:00

Post text automatically copied here. (Why?) (Report a problem.)

eatdeadjesus · 2012-10-09T12:21:05+00:00

This is a silly question and the answer would only serve as ammunition against rape victims, which would in turn only further discourage them from coming forward to authorities. That's without even getting into the logistical problems of verifying such data in the first place. The question I would rather know the answer to is how do we determine, and how often does it occur that an innocent man is convicted of rape because of gender discrimination? Statistically speaking, women are raped by males more than vice versa but there is a corresponding social bias that is derived from this that may, in certain cases, constitute prejudice. I would be very interested in comprehensive statistics about the frequency with which social bias against males determines the outcome of trials in general, including custody and divorce hearings. However, rape victims have been getting shit on a lot lately, there seem to be a growing number of politicians who think they have too many rights. I'm a big fan of rights, and I'm not a fan of rape. Anything that undermines the institution of rape reporting is a stupid idea that will mostly benefit rapists. I think there are more constructive avenues of study that are specific and easier to accurately analyze.

Collective82 · 2012-10-09T03:29:30+00:00

I found (these)[http://www.reddit.com/r/Feminism/comments/uazr5/more_victim_blaming_in_my_country/c4tzzyz]

TracyMorganFreeman · 2012-10-09T03:44:07+00:00

The problem is most rape cases are not clear cut such "this person has an alibi, he was in another hemisphere at the time"/video evidence, multiple witnesses.

That puts most rape cases in the "we don't know" category, which is unfortunate. It then comes down to how wide or narrow a net the legislation casts. A wider net catches more actual rapists, but also results in more false convictions, and a narrow net lets more rapist get away, but false imprisons fewer people.

There are a number of legislations that cast a wider net. "Rape shield" laws prevent certain kinds of exculpatory evidence from being entered, such as if the accuser has a history of lying to the police and in some cases recanting. "No Drop" policies do not allow the accuser to drop charges or do not allow the prosecution to drop charges if the accuser recants, presumably because the accuser "could have" been coerced to do so. This forces or incentivizes prosecutions to go on witch hunts.

nlakes · 2012-10-09T06:23:14+00:00

There's no definitive answer, because it all depends on how you define 'false rape allegation'.

Do you define it as 'all cases where the plaintiff was ruled against'?

Do you define it as 'all cases where the only evidence is assertions from both parties'? (which would potentially include incorrect convictions and possibly even correct convictions).

Or do you simply establish your own minimum standard of evidence and retry all cases on that evidence and deem all cases that fail that standard a false rape allegation?

They exist, they're more common than people like to admin and they do real damage.

newmobsforall · 2012-10-09T11:39:08+00:00

You really can't know. At best you can get an idea of how many men were accused and then not convicted, but conviction doesn't prove a rape happened and non-conviction doesn't prove it didn't. It also won't show accusations made that never got that far.

Title	How many false rape accusations are actually made?
Author	Dylan5019
Upvotes	20
Comments	29
Date	October 8, 2012 9:25 PM UTC (13 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/115q4q/how_many_false_rape_accusations_are_actually_made/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/how-many-false-rape-accusations-are-actually-made.1011802 https://theredarchive.com/post/1011802

Comments