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Comment Re:Victim's pain is less than a false allegation? (Score 0) 502

People are saying that someone who falsely accuses rape (which happens very, very frequently) doesn't suffer as much as the victim, who has done nothing legally wrong and just wants to go back to their life.

http://barcc.org/information/facts/stats

"Nearly 60% of rape/sexual assault victims did not report their victimization to the police in 2006, according to National Crime Victimization Survey data."

"95 percent of sexual assaults that were reported were determined to be substantiated with sound evidence." - this according to the FBI

Before you make claims about how often false reporting actually happens, it's worth looking at the statistics. Talk to somebody who works at a rape crisis center or DV shelter, and you'll see that, while they typically agree with you that false reporting spoils our justice system for the VAST MAJORITY of legitimate victims (men and women), they'll also cite the above statistics and many more which prove that it's a rapist's world, not a victim's world.

Your friend's story is moving, and the institution involved acted very prematurely in kicking him out. They likely did this because they're so afraid to talk about assault openly that they'd rather stigmatize it using him as an example in the hope that it will all just go away and they'll never have to think about it again.

Here's a newsflash - assault won't go away until we don't allow it any more as a society. Go visit the link above. Think about those statistics, and then think about your behavior and how it might be enabling for potential perpetrators. Have you ever stood by and done nothing while somebody you know, or somebody at a frat party you were standing next to, made plans to get a girl drunk and "nail" her? You just allowed a potential rape to happen, and you're at fault for not informing the fellow that he was planning a rape.

It's time to stop blaming victims, and start talking about these issues openly and calmly instead of with the irrational bias of fear and uncertainty.

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