This issue seems to resurface every year or so in UK politics and on the news.
My question today was brought about by a report on BBC news I saw at lunch (online version
here).
Personally, I'm all for it. Falsely accusing someone of rape for whatever reason (although revenge would seem to be a major cause) leaves a stain on their character which is not easily removed.
When a woman accuses a man, as is usually the case, regardless of the verdict there's the whole "no smoke without fire" nonsense put forward by many, so-called "women's groups" especially. In this sense it is nearly impossible for a man to be cleared of rape in the eyes of the public (or at least 50% of it) because everyone knows every man is a potential rapist, right girls?
In fact, it is this twisted viewpoint which is my other point to discuss. This is a quote from the end of the article:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Raving Feminist
Lisa Longstaff, of Women Against Rape, drew attention to the fact that the conviction rate for rape is just five per cent.
"I think it is a national scandal that the government is considering tinkering with the law on anonymity at all - let alone that they are also considering keeping a DNA database of women who have made so-called false allegations," she said.
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Excuse me, what?
How is it a scandle to revoke anonymity from people who shouldn't have it in the first place? The protection is there for the benefit of genuine cases and that's absolutely fine with me, but to defend that protection for the fakers is inexcusable.
These are people who should be locked up anyway for perjury; in what way do they deserve the protection of people not knowing what they've done to an innocent person?
Now as it happens I saw the woman quoted above on the televised news report. You could see the self-righteous spittle drooling out of her mouth as she ranted about this, and it's with these narrow-minded idiots that the problem lies. This is the sort of person who has perpetuated unfairness in the system as it stands at the moment, the kind of person who believes all women are delicate flowers incapable of wrongdoing, never mind even contemplating such a malicious act as falsely accusing a man of rape.
I fully understand the danger of mob justice if names are released, as I'm sure there are no end of angry men who would like to "explain their grievances" shall we say, but frankly you should have thought about that before you tried to drag someone elses name through the gutter.
So far as I'm concerned there is no reason for false accusers to be given anonymity for any crime.
So, er, yeah. Discuss.
Also, I'll be taking bets on when Yahwe jumps in.