to think these vile girls should be named and shamed?

[LadyBuzz]

There have been 4 serious sexual assaults in the last 2 weeks in the small city where i live which is generally quite sleepy and quiet.
In the local news paper tonight it has been reported that 2 of these attacks are complete fabrications and the girls in question have been arrested for it.

AIBU to believe that they should be named and shamed for this. The 2 women who have really been assaulted must be going through such a traumatic time at the moment and to have this made a mockery of must be a kick in the teeth for them.

I am amazed that anybody would make something like this up!

Repercussions maybe, but assessment of their mental/emotional state should be undertaken first. Repercussions are possible and necessary if police time is wasted and they turn out to be mischief makers and nothing more, but not naming and shaming, which would be a bad thing, and not necessarily anything more than any other false report offender would get.

I also think it behoves the police to wipe the slate clean after they get their repercussion, whatever form it takes, as one day they might well be raped and it would be a shame if they weren't taken seriously. But I do believe that anyone making a false claim to the police is very immature and perhaps not capable of thinking through to the consequences even for themselves of such an act.

what would naming and shaming them do apart from the daily mail taking up the story as they love to print stories like this but fail to bother printing ones of rapists being sentenced, not as interesting as evil women stories. the law will deal with them

and no i do not agree that accused should have anonymity if there is a case against him because in many cases once their names and faces have been published more women come forward and it hopefully encourages women to go to the police as we all know so many do not. often the prosecution needs all the evidence and support they can get to gain a conviction

I agree Freudian -- it would only contribute to an atmosphere where women are discouraged from reporting rape.

I think there should be no anonymity for anyone in a rape case. Anonymity only serves to reinforce the taboo about rape and the notion that there is some sort of shame involved for the victim.

i partly agree with you but many people still see a victim of rape as having asked for it this is not something that will change overnight, for some it would stop them coming forward and for many women they are still expected to be virgins consensual or not when married i think it should be optional

I don't think there are resource to assess the mental and emotional state of every mean spirited idiot, sadly. There are barely the resources to assess those with serious problems. Some people are just unpleasant, I'm not sure that type of person who does this kind of thing deserves money being spent on them (which could probably be better spent elsewhere). In fact I'm almost swinging towards saying that it would be 'karma' if they weren't believed in future. The boy who cried wolf and all that. Maybe that would be the only thing that brought home the severity of what they did. Yeah I know that there are plenty of problems with this, where do you draw the line and all that. It would put a stop to people like the woman mentioned above who did this three times though.

Freudian, I'm interested that you think the accused don't deserve anonymity, but false accusers do? Why? Surely false accusers are guilty of something too? Maybe if they were named, others would come forward who had been falsely accused by them too?

So when you hear about two sexual assaults and two false accusations. Your ire and rage is directed at the two women making the false accusations and not at the perpetrators of the sexual assaults?

Think about that for a moment.

That's not what I said. The sexual assaults are of course awful. The false accusations are also terrible as they will have an awful impact on the accused- mud sticks. Obviously one crime is worse than another, but that doesn't mean that false accusers should get a pat on the head and counselling. They should get a bollocking and some sort of criminal record.

because it does not often happen. its a totally different crime, it?s a lie, it?s a very bad lie but that is what it is and the law will deal with them. convictions for rape are very low we need as many women (or men) to come forward and report rapists to prevent these men raping again, if one women comes forward and his picture is realised more women are likely to come forward. not much press is given to rape convictions how many stories unless they have raped many women have you read about recently and how many have you read about women who have made the story up. this is believed to be around 5% of allegations yet gains a lot more publicity

released ....

I know all that. I'm just saying that when it does happen, the false accusers should not be let off and viewed as 'poor troubled people who need counselling and help'. This has no reflection on my views about rape and the abysmal reporting rate and conviction rate. In fact their actions are even worse in light of the fact the crime the have lied about is rape.

but they won't be just let off but they obvioulsy do need some sort of help i would rather they got that help than none at all

I hope they aren't just let off if it is true. They'll probably just get a minor ticking off though (lack of faith in CPS emoticon). Hmm, that's where we differ, I think there are people more deserving of help than their type.

My comment was directed towards the OP.

Another one who thinks it's extremely questionable that your ire and use of the word 'vile' is directed towards two women who made false accusations and not the aggressors.

They are vile. They should be named and shamed.

Ah ok morloth. I'd imagine her response would be much the same though.

Slinking, but she didn't say the rapists weren't vile too. Presumably she felt that went without saying.

Well, it doesn't.

In fact the OP doesn't actually mention the rapists at all. It is really only about what these two women have done.

And people wonder why so many rapes are not reported.

It is wrong and illegal to falsely report a crime, but not as wrong as raping someone. So why the fuss about the smaller crime and not the bigger one?

I would assume because rape is obviously beyond wrong to anyone with half a brain. The OP is commenting on another aspect of the situation. It doesn't mean she thinks rape is fine.

I'm confused.

Did the women say they were raped or did they accuse a specific person of rape?

If it was the first, I would think there was something wrong with them.

If it was the second, and it was done maliciously, then that is fairly vile.

Either way, some sort of record should be kept, because I think people who do this often do it more than once.

Judging by many surveys commissioned by many interested parties over the years, rape is something women deserve in the opinion of very large sections of the population. It is not obviously beyond wrong to a lot of people whether they have half a brain or not is obviously questionable but in the case of rape there are many, many members of the public who think there must be two sides to the story. Very sad state of affairs.

As others have said interesting that your ire is directed at women who have been accused of fabricating an attack

I don't ever think the name and shame approach is an appropriate one so YABU, beyond that how the women are dealt with if they did in fact fabricate the attack depends IMO on whether they accused a particular person or whether they simply claimed to have been attacked.

Mumbling Being falsely accused of terrorism would be pretty awful, but it's much easier to prove guilt or innocence either way, so I don't think it is as bad. A man will find it much easier to prove he isn't a terrorist than to prove he isn't a rapist.

Rape is different. It is widely known that it is hard to get a rape conviction because of evidence, so it is easy for people to believe that, even if there is no conviction, a rape could still have happened. If intercourse did take place and the question is just 'was it consensual or not', then it's basically one persons word against anothers. And mud sticks.

I think i might need to clarify, In no way do I condone the rapists and I really hope that the men in question are caught and dealt with accordingly. also hope the women concerned get the support and help that they need to get through such an ordeal.

Maybe I should have worded my OP a little better, It perhaps should have said AIBU to not understand why somebody would make something like this up?

As a couple of people have mentioned if you are accused of a crime of this nature it can have a massive impact on your life.

From what I can gather one of the girls accused a particular person after consensual intercourse and the other made it all up, and wasn't even in the place she said she was at the time.

So far, are not these girls in the same position as the alleged perpetrators- i.e. they have been accused of a crime but not yet convicted?

one of them has been charged with wasting police time and perverting the course of justice.
The other was only arrested yesterday

'If intercourse did take place and the question is just 'was it consensual or not', then it's basically one persons word against anothers. And mud sticks.'

In a nutshell, that is why there should be no naming and shaming. Where is the line between a 'he said/ she said' case and a false accusation, in the eyes of the general public?

'From what I can gather one of the girls accused a particular person after consensual intercourse'
WHO DECIDES WHETHER SEX IS RAPE OR CONSENSUAL? I am shouting on purpose here because that statement of yours is so incredibly unbelievable LabyBuzz.

'As a couple of people have mentioned if you are accused of a crime of this nature it can have a massive impact on your life.'
I really do not understand why you started this thread. An accusation of rape is one thing and a pair of girls making up stories and wasting police time is another surely? Lots of men are accused of rape. A tiny, tiny minority of reported rapes is prosecuted and a tiny proportion of this small number gets prison time.
The vast majority of rapes go unreported and therefore un-prosecuted, and therefore the number of real, actual rapists out and about in society far outnumbers the number of rapists either accused or behind bars, and yet here you are wringing your hands about the effect of a false accusation of rape on the accused. Why?

I would be very interested to see what myths you believe about rape.