“Believe the victim” mantra and the frequency of false allegations

College campus decision-makers are instructed to ensure “victims of sexual violence are believed and that they’re seen as credible,”[1] but to be “very, very cautious in accepting a man’s claim that he has been wrongly accused of abuse or violence.”[2] Policies that advise adjudicators to “believe the victim” are intended to minimize victim re-traumatization and encourage reporting of sexual offenses.[3]

According to the victims’ rights campaign Start by Believing, “[w]e should believe, as a matter of default, what an accuser says” because “the costs of wrongly disbelieving a survivor far outweigh the costs of calling someone a rapist.”[4] This message glibly minimizes the impact of false accusations, while conveniently ignoring the fact that false accusations can lead to erroneous findings of guilt: 

The accused would have a rough period. He might be suspended from his job; friends might defriend him on Facebook… But false accusations are exceedingly rare, and errors can be undone by an investigation that clears the accused, especially if it is done quickly.[5]

The notion that false allegations are exceedingly rare is based on the often repeated estimate that “only 2% of reported rapes are false,” a ubiquitous claim based upon a virtual “house of cards,” and immortalized in feminist Susan Brownmiller’s 1976 book, Against Our Will.[6] Since its publication, every authority espousing the 2% claim has either relied on Brownmiller’s book for the claim, or relied on it indirectly by citing a source which relied on the book, or by citing yet a third source relying on the second source which relied on Brownmiller’s book, ad infinitum.[7]

As it turns out, scholarly detective work revealed that Brownmiller’s 2% claim was based on her own “interpretation of some data” referenced in a 1974 speech by a local New York judge, who based his comments on one New York City police department unit’s estimate[8] — hardly an adequate sample or statistically significant estimate. Most reputable studies have estimated the actual rate of false reports to be at least 9 percent and probably closer to 50 percent.[9]

The consequence of implementing believe the victim protocols is not only that the accuser is presumed to be truthful and his/her recollections accurate, but also that the accused student is no longer entitled to be presumed innocent.[10] Unfortunately for unjustly accused students, our political leaders continue to equivocate on the likelihood of false allegations:

In the rush to accomplish American social policy objectives, policy-makers and the public are wary to embrace the issue of false allegations of sexual assault, even discuss it. At the heart of the issue–despite the fact that false allegations concern primarily consequences for men–the female vote is crucially at stake on both sides of the political aisle and as a result disproportionately and incongruously shapes how the issue is publicly discussed.[11]

Notwithstanding the divergent estimates, it should be obvious that the prevalence of false criminal allegations is not necessarily analogous to allegations of sexual misconduct by college students; it is very likely that the prevalence of false allegations of sexual misconduct on campuses has risen in recent years, not only due to expanded definitions of sexual assault and the absence of cross examination and sworn testimony, but also because disincentives for making false allegations of sexual violence, such as shame and fear of repercussions, which precluded many false criminal allegations in the past, are no longer a significant factor on college campuses. That trauma, shame and fear, which historically deterred victims from reporting to law enforcement, has, on today’s campuses, been replaced by an almost exalted victim status, allowing accusers to be showered with attention, media recognition and even invited to the State of the Union Address.[12]

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Coming soon!

By The Sunday Tmes 07/19/2015

” A 24-YEAR-OLD Lithuanian woman has been “engaged” to marry four different Asian men in Ireland in the past nine months, a Sunday Times investigation has found. 

Three of the men, two from Pakistan and one from India, claim the woman accepted €3,000 from each of them in return for agreeing to enter a sham marriage to regularise their visa status in Ireland. The three men allege the woman took the money but then reneged on the deal. 

In the past year there has been a surge in Pakistani nationals coming to Ireland from the UK after a clampdown there on people whose visas have expired. …”

Read the entire article: http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/ireland/News/article1583077.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2015_07_18

By Save Our Sons 07/15/2015

” A California court has ruled that UCSD acted improperly by using a deeply flawed system to adjudicate a sexual assault allegation and sanctioning the accused based on a process that violated his rights. …”

Read the entire page: http://helpsaveoursons.com/uc-san-diego-didnt-give-male-student-fair-trial-in-sex-case-court-rules/

By Reason.com 07/15/2015

“Is there anything more terrifying than an outraged government official who wants to do somethingabout a moral issue? Some members of the D.C. city council would like to force universities to take a “Scarlet Letter” (WaPost’s phrasing) approach with students accused of sexual assault, permanently branding them as rapists—even if they are never convicted by adjudicators.

This is the brilliant idea of Councilwoman Anita Bonds, a Democrat: …”

Read the entire article: http://reason.com/blog/2015/07/15/dc-legislators-want-to-brand-accused-stu

By The Smoking Gun 07/13/2015

“A Florida woman is facing a domestic battery charge after allegedly using a dildo to batter her female domestic partner during a fight in 
the couple’s residence, police allege.

The confrontation Saturday evening occurred while a St. Petersburg Police Department officer was inside the home of Annette Kielhurn, 57, and Gamze Capaner-Ridley.

The cop was present to oversee Capaner-Ridley’s removal of personal belongings from the house, a move apparently prompted by Capaner-Ridley’s filing the prior day for a civil domestic violence injunction against Kielhurn. …”

Read the entire article: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/clearwater/woman-busted-for-dildo-battering-786902

Check out all of our educational brochures at https://stopabuseforeveryone.org/brochures. 

Our brochures can be printed out and distributed to shelters and individuals who would benefit from the educational information.

By The National Review 07/07/2015

” A“yes means yes” advocacy group, the Affirmative Consent Project, is instructing college students to take a picture with a contract before they have sex with each other just to make absolutely sure both parties are officially consenting. In fact, the group has been distributing contracts to schools nationwide as part of its Consent Conscious Kit, according to an article in the Washington Examiner. If no camera is available, students are encouraged to fill out the form on the back of the contract which states, “On this date [fill in the blank], we agree to have consensual sex with one another” followed by a space for students’ printed names and signatures. …”

Read the entire article: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/420870/college-affirmative-consent-contract

By The New York Post 06/29/2015

“The NYPD needs to get tougher on cops convicted of domestic violence, a police oversight panel says.

The Commission to Combat Police Corruption reviewed police-involved domestic violence cases from 2013, and found that harsher punishments were deserved in seven of 88 of them.

In at least two, the cops should have been fired. …”

Read the entire article: http://nypost.com/2015/06/29/nypd-needs-to-crack-down-on-cops-convicted-of-domestic-violence/