What is the problem with anonymity for those accused of rape?

pcarvious · 2011-06-22T19:23:32+00:00

In society today the general belief doesn't run the same direction as the innocent until proven guilty in the justice system. The people that go into the trials and sit on the jury have been inundated with the idea that if the perp is there then they're guilty. This has combined from a few social issues. The first is the "Prevalence of rape" and the fact that the society does not have to believe you're not guilty even if the courts find you as such.

There's a combination of internal things going on here too. One of them is priming. I'm sure you heard something about Straus-Kahn and the perp walk that happens regularly in the US. There is no protection for the accused in the US. If it's a high profile, or a crime of a sexual nature then a potentially innocent's man will be all over the media. Add onto that facebook and other social networking sites and you have a reputation that cannot be out run.

The number of false claims a year is always being questioned. It's not surprising given that most of the evidence in a rape case is very circumstantial. Law and Order has it wrong in that regard. There is often only the witness' word and circumstantial evidence available both because few people come forward immediately, and they often know the person that raped them. Or at least believe they know them. That combined with the lies about how many convictions there are for rapes and you create a situation where people want to be the hand of justice and not the unbiased eyes they're meant to be in the courts.

A lot of this stems from the propagation of lies found through patently false, or proven biased research. The original 1:4 college women are raped statement came from a biased source and biased researcher yet it is still used commonly around college campuses.

disposable_human · 2011-06-22T20:22:54+00:00

The UK put it forward as a proposal - anonymity until conviction. It seems fair, right?

It got shot down.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10322162

Labour MP Meg Munn said it was "extremely unusual" for someone to offend only once - and publishing names encouraged other victims to come forward.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/government-scraps-anonymity-pledge-for-rape-accused-2132339.html

He went on: "The assessment has found insufficient reliable empirical evidence on which to base an informed decision on the value of providing anonymity to rape defendants.

"Evidence is lacking in a number of key areas, in particular, whether the inability to publicise a person's identity will prevent further witnesses to a known offence from coming forward, or further unknown offences by the same person from coming to light."

The move would have turned the clock back to the 1970s when the Sexual Offences Act introduced anonymity for those accused of rape, something later repealed

She said some reports suggested as many as one in 10 reports of rape could be false, but police and solicitors said they encountered cases extremely rarely

Celda · 2011-06-22T18:06:26+00:00

Because all rape accusations are true, and women don't lie.

Because feminists want men / rapists (the terms are roughly equivalent) to be punished even if the police can't prove rape happened.

Because other women can come forth and dogpile the man with accusations.

Because fuck men, that's why.

BolshevikMuppet · 2011-06-22T19:23:34+00:00

Nothing in particular. The problem is that modern law really doesn't like people accused of rape, or any sexual misconduct. It sucks, and we should fight against it.

We need to repeal Federal Rules of Evidence 413, 414, and 415, to start.

We need to expand rule 412 to provide a rape shield for the accused. And we need to provide for anonymity in the press.

Edit: wait a damned minute. I'm getting downvoted for saying we need to provide anonymity for those accused of sexual assault, and that the federal rules of evidence are stacked against those accused of rape?

What the hell, /mensrights?

mikesteane · 2011-06-22T19:41:49+00:00

I have heard this argument from a feminist: if a rapist (i.e. an accused rapist is not named) other women who have been raped by him will not have the chance to come forward and add their accusations. Of course this argument is the same as "fuck men". It can also be reversed so that rape accusers get named giving men who have been falsely accused the chance to come forward.

girlwriteswhat · 2011-06-22T18:05:32+00:00

The entire argument is that feminists don't like it. And that's good enough to convince lawmakers.

rational1212 · 2011-06-22T18:30:06+00:00

"What is the problem with anonymity for those accused of rape?"

Feminists hate men

and don't differentiate actual rapists from innocent victims of false accusations

countbloodula · 2011-06-22T20:21:37+00:00

Open trials are one of the fundamental principles of western society. The major argument against anonymity is that the public has a compelling interest in knowing the details of judicial proceedings. Evidence presented at trial may have implications in other criminal proceedings. The identity of the accused may be important if there is any conflict of interest involving the relationship between the accused and judges, prosecutors, witnesses, or members of the jury. Anonymity would also make it much more difficult for researchers to gather statistics about the accused.

There are certainly more arguments against anonymity for the accused but I'd be hard pressed to think of any good ones either for or against anonymity that didn't

a) apply to the accuser as much as the accused and

b) apply to all crimes and not just those involving sex

widgetmaker · 2011-06-22T20:15:44+00:00

Is there anonymity for people accused of any other crime?

NickRausch · 2011-06-23T04:43:10+00:00

It prevents people coming forward who may have seen the accused elsewhere at the time and makes the trial less public. For this reason neither accused or accuser should have anonymity

Title	What is the problem with anonymity for those accused of rape?
Author	Skareymc
Upvotes	18
Comments	58
Date	June 22, 2011 5:53 PM UTC (15 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/i6dlu/what_is_the_problem_with_anonymity_for_those/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/what-is-the-problem-with-anonymity-for-those.1038270 https://theredarchive.com/post/1038270

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