Parenting & kids - Falsely accused boys: collateral damage in the war on rape

http://mensnewsdaily.com/glennsacks/...e-war-on-rape/
Pierce Harlan, Esq.
Falsely accused boys: collateral damage in the war on rape
2009-03-06 at 4:05 pm

In this disturbing news account (story follws below - Dusty), a 14-year-old
school girl claimed she was raped by two classmates, boys aged 13 and 14
(Wandsworth Guardian, 2/25/09). At least the older boy, and presumably both,
were held in jail for five months. The case against them collapsed after a
day in trial because "it emerged that the girl could have lied about being
raped to hide the fact that she had tried to skip school."

According to the news report: "The girl is unlikely to face any criminal
charges for wasting police time because officials fear it could prevent
other rape victims from coming forward."

The mother of the older boy is now voicing her outrage over her son's
treatment: "My son was banged up in a secure unit with murderers and gang
members miles from home all on this girl's say so, which turned out to be a
load of rubbish."

The mother noted that after her son was released, he received no apology
from the police, much less any support for his ordeal, and has been
stigmatized because all his friends know about the accusation.

According to the news account: "A police spokesman said: 'We are not in a
position to comment as this may have a negative impact on victims coming
forward.'"

The reaction of the police, not only in failing to charge the girl but in
refusing even to speak about it, is disturbing on a multitude of levels,
but, sadly, it is not atypical.

In society's zeal to combat rape, we have allowed an entire class of
victims -- males falsely accused of that vile crime -- to be sacrificed
supposedly so that legitimate rape victims are not dissuaded from coming
forward. As a result, false accusers are not punished adequately if they are
punished at all; would-be false accusers are not deterred because they know
they can lie with impunity; men and boys are forced to sit in a jail cell
for weeks or months or sometimes years on nothing more than a disputed
allegation; and when the hapless males are finally released because it turns
out their accusers are the real criminals, the ordeals of the males are
regarded as just a necessary inconvenience for "the greater good" -- the war
on rape.

But who, exactly, decided that the war on rape was a "greater good" than
protecting the presumed innocent, much less the presumed innocent who are
just children? Since when did it become acceptable to ignore serious
criminality in order to combat serious criminality? While it is folly to
attempt to weigh the harms inflicted by an actual rape with the harms
inflicted by a false rape claim, can anyone seriously dispute that the two
boys in this news account suffered grievous harm from their ordeal? Why is
their harm less worthy of protection than the harm to a rape victim? The
harm from a rape is inflicted by a criminal; the harm here was initiated by
a likely criminal, but the boys' real injury was caused by a callous law
enforcement apparatus that automatically accepted the girl's account over
theirs and deprived the boys of their liberty by locking them away for
months with serious felons. Why do we allow our law enforcement officers to
be the tools of evildoers out to destroy our sons?

In any event, how helpful is it in waging the war on rape to refuse to
punish a criminal whose lie was intended to send two young males to prison
for years? The fact is, excusing false accusers will only encourage more
false accusers, not actual rape victims, to come forward. A host of special
laws and policies unique to rape have been implemented to make reporting
actual rapes, and convicting rapists, easier than ever, perhaps as easy as
it can possibly be. Among other things, rape accusers are afforded:
anonymity; extensive counseling paid for by tax and tuition monies;
heightened sensitivity when being interviewed by police; exemption from
taking polygraphs; the ability to have rape kits preserved for years at
taxpayer expense while they mull over whether to press charges against a man
or boy; and special evidentiary rules at trial to jack up convictions.

The policy of treating an entire class of victims, who happen to be almost
exclusively male, as collateral damage in the war on rape mocks the image of
the blindfolded Lady Justice, who is supposed to mete out justice without
favor. It tells those men and boys that they are not as worthy of justice as
certain others simply because they were born into the wrong gender and were
victims of the wrong crime.

-------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/...th_killer s_/
'My innocent boy was locked up with killers over rape lie'
12:30pm Wednesday 25th February 2009

Exclusive By Katie Wilson »
The mother of a 14-year-old boy who was falsely accused of rape by a fellow
pupil has spoken of her anger after her innocent son was held for five
months with "murderers and gang members".

The trial collapsed after a single day in court as it emerged that the girl,
14, could have lied about being raped to hide the fact she had tried to skip
school.

The boy's mother told the Wandsworth Guardian she was furious that the girl
would get off "scot-free" while her son had to spend months on remand in a
secure unit, miles from home, while waiting to be tried.

The schoolgirl from Putney claimed she had been raped by two boys, aged 13
and 14, at her home.

She had claimed the boys came to her house on October 16 and threatened to
take her hostage, before taking it in turns to rape her.

However, the case collapsed at Inner London Crown Court last week because of
conflicting evidence.

None of the teenagers can be identified for legal reasons.

The girl is unlikely to face any criminal charges for wasting police time
because officials fear it could prevent other rape victims from coming
forward.

The teenage boy's mother said: "My son was banged up in a secure unit with
murderers and gang members miles from home all on this girl's say so, which
turned out to be a load of rubbish.

"The whole story was lies right from the beginning and I can't believe it
went as far as it did.

"Now nothing will even happen to her as the Crown Prosecution Service has
said it won't prosecute her for wasting police time as it might stop real
rape victims coming forward.

"I know measures need to be in place for real rape victims, but this shouldn't
have happened to two young boys.

"Now they have the stigma of all their friends knowing what they were
accused of.

"No support has been given to them even though the case has been dropped. We've
had no apology from the police and she gets off scot-free. It's just wrong."

The boys, both from Putney, always denied their involvement in the alleged
rape and insisted the girl let them in to her house that day as they were
all going to "bunk off " school together.

A police spokeswoman said: "We are not in a position to comment as this may
have a negative impact on victims coming forward."

America has become a land of Puritans, women can do no wrong and are not
even expected to fend or support themselves.

"Dusty" wrote in message
...
http://mensnewsdaily.com/glennsacks/...e-war-on-rape/
Pierce Harlan, Esq.
Falsely accused boys: collateral damage in the war on rape
2009-03-06 at 4:05 pm

In this disturbing news account (story follws below - Dusty), a
14-year-old school girl claimed she was raped by two classmates, boys aged
13 and 14 (Wandsworth Guardian, 2/25/09). At least the older boy, and
presumably both, were held in jail for five months. The case against them
collapsed after a day in trial because "it emerged that the girl could
have lied about being raped to hide the fact that she had tried to skip
school."

According to the news report: "The girl is unlikely to face any criminal
charges for wasting police time because officials fear it could prevent
other rape victims from coming forward."

The mother of the older boy is now voicing her outrage over her son's
treatment: "My son was banged up in a secure unit with murderers and gang
members miles from home all on this girl's say so, which turned out to be
a load of rubbish."

The mother noted that after her son was released, he received no apology
from the police, much less any support for his ordeal, and has been
stigmatized because all his friends know about the accusation.

According to the news account: "A police spokesman said: 'We are not in a
position to comment as this may have a negative impact on victims coming
forward.'"

The reaction of the police, not only in failing to charge the girl but in
refusing even to speak about it, is disturbing on a multitude of levels,
but, sadly, it is not atypical.

In society's zeal to combat rape, we have allowed an entire class of
victims -- males falsely accused of that vile crime -- to be sacrificed
supposedly so that legitimate rape victims are not dissuaded from coming
forward. As a result, false accusers are not punished adequately if they
are punished at all; would-be false accusers are not deterred because they
know they can lie with impunity; men and boys are forced to sit in a jail
cell for weeks or months or sometimes years on nothing more than a
disputed allegation; and when the hapless males are finally released
because it turns out their accusers are the real criminals, the ordeals of
the males are regarded as just a necessary inconvenience for "the greater
good" -- the war on rape.

But who, exactly, decided that the war on rape was a "greater good" than
protecting the presumed innocent, much less the presumed innocent who are
just children? Since when did it become acceptable to ignore serious
criminality in order to combat serious criminality? While it is folly to
attempt to weigh the harms inflicted by an actual rape with the harms
inflicted by a false rape claim, can anyone seriously dispute that the two
boys in this news account suffered grievous harm from their ordeal? Why is
their harm less worthy of protection than the harm to a rape victim? The
harm from a rape is inflicted by a criminal; the harm here was initiated
by a likely criminal, but the boys' real injury was caused by a callous
law enforcement apparatus that automatically accepted the girl's account
over theirs and deprived the boys of their liberty by locking them away
for months with serious felons. Why do we allow our law enforcement
officers to be the tools of evildoers out to destroy our sons?

In any event, how helpful is it in waging the war on rape to refuse to
punish a criminal whose lie was intended to send two young males to prison
for years? The fact is, excusing false accusers will only encourage more
false accusers, not actual rape victims, to come forward. A host of
special laws and policies unique to rape have been implemented to make
reporting actual rapes, and convicting rapists, easier than ever, perhaps
as easy as it can possibly be. Among other things, rape accusers are
afforded: anonymity; extensive counseling paid for by tax and tuition
monies; heightened sensitivity when being interviewed by police; exemption
from taking polygraphs; the ability to have rape kits preserved for years
at taxpayer expense while they mull over whether to press charges against
a man or boy; and special evidentiary rules at trial to jack up
convictions.

The policy of treating an entire class of victims, who happen to be almost
exclusively male, as collateral damage in the war on rape mocks the image
of the blindfolded Lady Justice, who is supposed to mete out justice
without favor. It tells those men and boys that they are not as worthy of
justice as certain others simply because they were born into the wrong
gender and were victims of the wrong crime.

-------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/...th_killer s_/
'My innocent boy was locked up with killers over rape lie'
12:30pm Wednesday 25th February 2009

Exclusive By Katie Wilson »
The mother of a 14-year-old boy who was falsely accused of rape by a
fellow pupil has spoken of her anger after her innocent son was held for
five months with "murderers and gang members".

The trial collapsed after a single day in court as it emerged that the
girl, 14, could have lied about being raped to hide the fact she had tried
to skip school.

The boy's mother told the Wandsworth Guardian she was furious that the
girl would get off "scot-free" while her son had to spend months on remand
in a secure unit, miles from home, while waiting to be tried.

The schoolgirl from Putney claimed she had been raped by two boys, aged 13
and 14, at her home.

She had claimed the boys came to her house on October 16 and threatened to
take her hostage, before taking it in turns to rape her.

However, the case collapsed at Inner London Crown Court last week because
of conflicting evidence.

None of the teenagers can be identified for legal reasons.

The girl is unlikely to face any criminal charges for wasting police time
because officials fear it could prevent other rape victims from coming
forward.

The teenage boy's mother said: "My son was banged up in a secure unit with
murderers and gang members miles from home all on this girl's say so,
which turned out to be a load of rubbish.

"The whole story was lies right from the beginning and I can't believe it
went as far as it did.

"Now nothing will even happen to her as the Crown Prosecution Service has
said it won't prosecute her for wasting police time as it might stop real
rape victims coming forward.

"I know measures need to be in place for real rape victims, but this
shouldn't have happened to two young boys.

"Now they have the stigma of all their friends knowing what they were
accused of.

"No support has been given to them even though the case has been dropped.
We've had no apology from the police and she gets off scot-free. It's just
wrong."

The boys, both from Putney, always denied their involvement in the alleged
rape and insisted the girl let them in to her house that day as they were
all going to "bunk off " school together.

A police spokeswoman said: "We are not in a position to comment as this
may have a negative impact on victims coming forward."