Kijana Mitchell is an Alabama-based advocate for survivors of domestic violence who’s also worked as a 911 dispatcher. She said she’s encountered law enforcement officers who suspect a victim is lying simply because they make the common and complicated decision to return to an abusive relationship.
And she fears this bill could work in the favor of abusers—“master manipulators ”—who will use it to convince victims not to report an assault to skeptical officers.
Yes. This will be turned against victims. No doubt.
@Cypher is also right. We need to severely punish people who abuse the system. But what’s that old adage? “It is better a hundred guilty persons should escape than one innocent person should suffer.”
The article completely dismisses what is stated by researchers, that 2-8 percent of sexual assault and rape allegations are false.
Is society simply meant to let those 2-8 percent of false reports potentially ruin the lives of the victims of those false allegations?
There should absolutely be severe recourse for attempting to ruin an innocent persons life, for wasting resources and diminishing the likelihood that real allegations are taken seriously.
There is obviously a problem with how police deal with any sexual assault or rape report but ignoring victims of false allegations and refusing to give them justice won’t solve that.
The article completely dismisses what is stated by researchers, that 2-8 percent of sexual assault and rape allegations are false.
Yes, and I think given the subject matter, it is important to note that this discussion should be centered around people who are caught actively lying about sexual abuse allegations. There’s a difference between making an accusation that you unfortunately cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt, and actively just spinning allegations from whole cloth. The former is just an unfortunate by-product of our justice system and the high bar required to secure a conviction, and the other is a crime that should be punished.
Is society simply meant to let those 2-8 percent of false reports potentially ruin the lives of the victims of those false allegations?
The problem is that “she’s lying!” is the first go-to defense of any alleged abuser. The other problem is that, at least in the court of public opinion, the victim is to be taken at her word by default, and any attempt to even question the details is often met with fierce, sharp, and severe blowback. Attempt to poke holes in the victim’s story (Even in cases where the details are sketchy at best) will just get you labelled as a victim-blaming bigot.
There should absolutely be severe recourse for attempting to ruin an innocent persons life, for wasting resources and diminishing the likelihood that real allegations are taken seriously.
But there isn’t. Our society has determined that some victims of false rape allegations having their lives ruined is considered the better alternative than putting women in a position where they even think they may be prosecuted for bringing up false charges if they are ultimately unable to prove their case in court. Whether or not that’s fair is a matter of personal opinion, but it is what it is, and the only thing you can do is just hope and pray you never end up on the wrong side of that equation.
There is obviously a problem with how police deal with any sexual assault or rape report but ignoring victims of false allegations and refusing to give them justice won’t solve that.
Again, this is true, but our society as a whole has determined doing anything to alleviate that problem would cause even more victims of sexaul assault to not come forward, which would just end up making the problem worse in the long run. So basically, this is “least shitty option available”. Again, whether you think it’s the best option available is a personal opinion, but it’s what we’ve got to work with, because there is absolutely no real support for protection from false rape allegations at the legislative level, so it’s not going to change any time soon.
“A law like this can scoop up a lot of innocent victims” if people aren’t able to prove their case to the police’s satisfaction, Mitchell said. “This added factor that our lawmakers are trying to bring into the equation will really bolster a lot of [abusers’] ability to keep victims from speaking up.”
Considering this is Alabama, I assume that’s the intention. Give police a carte blanche to abuse the victims who called them, and make it harder to escape domestic abuse. Total fascist’s delight.
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