To think Cliff Richard and co should stop their awful campaign?

[PinkyOfPie]

news.sky.com/story/sir-cliff-urged-to-drop-campaign-for-anonymity-for-sex-offence-suspects-10620627

In a nutshell Cliff Richard and other well known men have launched a campaign to grant anonymity to accused sexual offenders.

AIBU to think they should FOTTFSOF? Aside from it being a well known fact the other victims come forward when they see their abuser/rapist has been charged, there is absolutely zero evidence to suggest a 'false' accusation of a sex crime impacts a person more than a false accusation of any other crime. Its a horrible rape myth that damages victims.

Also the official stats false accusations for rape and sexual assault (of which around 35 people are convicted a year in the U.K.) are no higher than false accusations any other crime.

So why in gods name would those accused of sexual crimes ever get special treatment?

There was no conviction for a false allegation. Innocent until proven guilty only works one way?

Worra I see I meant "accused who's been charged" ( or just "charged" I guess!)

What if it was you or your daughter or your sister or your mum who he then went on to rape because he wasn't convicted? - Actually my sister and mum have both been raped. My mum never reported it. My sister did, her accuser was never named and never brought to justice and I stand by my comments that the accused should have anonymity.

If your brother, father, son committed suicide over false rape allegations and their name being dragged through the mud would you still want the accused named?

Semi again I assume the girls told you this themselves?

Totally agree with PopFizz on the media intrusion - what happened to christopher Jeffries was abhorrent and I hope the Levenson enquiry (I think it was called I've gone blank) makes positive changes so that this never happens again

Ahh gotcha OP.

In that case I agree.

It takes a lot to actually charge someone so I can see the benefits of naming them (for other potential victims to come forward), but not simply accused.

What if there was a serial rapist in your area right now?

It doesn't matter who it is or who he is raping - so he could be raping strangers or his acquaintances - the point is he's a serial rapist.

What if he had raped multiple women and some of them had reported him to the police?

Currently if there is enough evidence he did it he could be named and this may lead to more victims coming forward. So he gets convicted and sent to prison because multiple women have testified against him.

But what if there were anonymity laws in place right now so he couldn't be named and whilst there is evidence against him it just isn't quite enough for him to be convicted.

So he doesn't go to prison and he continues raping.

What if he then goes on to rape you? Or your daughter? Or your sister? Or your mum?

That rape (along with others) could have been prevented if he had been named and as a result convicted.

Do you still think anonymity is a good idea?

Of course it does BeeBee. Men are to be believed.

YANBU Pinky. Funny how the call for anonymity only happens around rape/sexual abuse cases and only when celebrities are involved. They're special don't you know.

I've known three separate men all convicted for a variety of sexual abuse crimes. Only one of them was named in a paper and only after he'd been convicted. Unfortunately, most of the time it isn't even newsworthy. Another day. Another woman raped.

YABU.

I've dealt with people who've made false rape accusations. They do happen, despite what a lot of people on this thread want to believe.

Not only do they need to FOTTFSOF, when they get there, they need to FOSM.

^ this

YANBU

If your brother, father, son committed suicide over false rape allegations and their name being dragged through the mud would you still want the accused named?

But if he was falsely accused why would his name be dragged through the mud? And dragged through the mud by whom?

No I don't agree with Cliff Richard

But I do think the press should report on a less sensational way than they do

They do happen, despite what a lot of people on this thread want to believe.

Nobody has denied they happen.

How come so many people on these threads always seem to know men who were falsely accused?

If your brother, father, son committed suicide over false rape allegations and their name being dragged through the mud would you still want the accused named?

If a male member of my family had enough evidence against them to be charged with rape I'd be horrified and wouldn't change my views simply because it applied to my life now. and the thing is about rapists is they don't often tell the truth. I would bet 99% of rapists would claim they were falsely accused. The likelihood of someone being falsely accused having their name in the paper is absolutely tiny.

If my daughter or mother was raped, and naming her rapists potentially meant more witnesses coming forward then there's no way I'd want her rapists granted anonymity. This is far more likely to happen (a woman being raped and going through a trial) than a man being falsely accused going through a trial.

Because I value rape victims more than I value rapists, I would always be in their favour. The facts speak for themselves- far more women are raped than men accused. If it s a case of taking sides (which is inevitably what Cliff Richard's campaign boils down to), I am taking the side of the victims every time.

Virgin I'm in the police force. That's how.

Pluto we know they happen (see my link on pageboy 1), like they happen with any other crime. They just don't happen in great numbers regarding rape.

PAgeboy?! Page! My phone is tired!

My dh was suspected? accused? not sure which of rape.
It was the most horrible time of his life and there have been some.
We had to move and his business failed, not because of any media naming but community and local gossip. This was a long time ago now, it was on TV about a year later they found the rapist.
It changed my dh, even though it only lasted a few months before we were told they were not going to bother us anymore.
Crime stoppers, Do You Know This Man has a lot to answer for. It changes innocent people's lives and shouldn't be underestimated.

But how else can we encourage people to come forward when they know there must be others and they are standing alone.
Even in our darkest time we felt the poor victim was going through worse and we had to put up with it. It was frustrating that we knew he was still out there and women weren't safe.

In that case Pluto I'm sure you've dealt with rapists too. No doubt more than you've dealt with false accusers.

I know which I think is the bigger problem.

I wouldn't say that they happen in small enough numbers for it to be an argument constantly used in situations like this.

If he was falsely accused, he has every right to be pissed about it.

If he wasn't falsely accused, there's no way of you knowing because he was never found guilty. That's just the reality of it.

Rape victims who report their rape go through that too gilly .

Ugh it's depressing when people in the police FFS want to make it harder for rape victims.

Virgin yep there's the inevitable "I know someone who was falsely accused" - there's never a conviction for the accused though, but they somehow know she lied, and of course real rapists are completely truthful and always admit to rape, so this person must be telling the truth it's just ridiculous anecdata

However I take it that your DH wasn't outright accused by this woman and she had in fact been raped by someone as you called her a victim.

It was just your DH ended up being wrongly suspected of it.

Yes, of course I've dealt with rapists. But that doesn't make vigilante justice right, which is what is happening here.

gilly that must have been awful for him and you, and I'm pleased to see your concern was still with the victim and that the real perpetrator was caught eventually

I don't watch Crime Stoppers what is the segment about?