According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in three women, and one in six men in the United States experience contact with sexual assault in their lifetime. Rape culture has inspired campaigns such as the “MeToo” movement and has created room for many political discussions. We are all well aware of the punishment of prison time for rapist. In the United States, some rape cases could go as far as the death penalty for the guilty assailant. Although, would it be wrong to think that every person convicted of rape is not a rapist? An accuser who is found to have created false allegations of rape could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in jail for wasting police time or could also pay fine. Is that fair? Rape can most certainly ruin a person’s life, but people forget that allegations of rape can do the same thing. Of course, the act of creating a false story of being raped is not the equivalent to the sickening action of raping someone, although accusers admitting to falsifying a story happens way too often with most these accusers serving little to no jail time.
A direct punishment should be created for people who admit to fabricating a story of sexual assault. The most common reason people fabricate stories of rape is to create an alibi for another situation with a person they’ve been intimate with. For example, contracting a sexually transmitted disease, or getting pregnant can be looked down upon from an alleged victim’s family and colleagues. Therefore, an alleged victim can say they were raped instead of facing the guilt. The next most common reason would to get revenge or make claims out of anger towards the alleged assailant. Nikki Yovino, a nineteen-year-old woman, accused two Sacred Heart football players of rape after she feared losing the love interest of another student at the university. She admitted to fabricating the story three months after filing the police report and told police that the encounter was completely consensual just before trial. The two football players were removed from the school because of the allegations.
Yovino is serving a year in jail for wasting police time as a result. Lastly, the next biggest motive for creating false accusations is money. Singer Chris Brown was arrested in London after a woman came forth and alleged the platinum award-winning singer sexually assaulted her. The woman admitted to lying about it just days after the artist was released due to lack of evidence. Motives of making false rape accusations may vary widely and are hard to prove otherwise unless a statement is said from the victim. It’s complicated to fight against an allegation such as rape because normally the only people who know the truth are the alleged victims and the alleged assailants.
People have come out to later admit they’ve fabricated a rape since the Jim Crowe era. Sixty percent of Louisiana residence believed that lynching was the punishment for rape. Therefore, when consensual sex amongst a Caucasian woman and an African American man was discovered the most common result with end with the woman claiming to have been raped by the African American man. During the period of Jim Crowe, it’s without a doubt that the law would assume the side of a white woman rather than a black male. This practiced caused an increased amount of lynching’s and was justified as necessary punishment in order to protect the white women and maintain law and order.
A person who admits to fabricating a rape allegation could serve up to five years in jail. Although this sentence is not a direct punishment of the false allegation of rape. After admitting the guilt of lying, the accuser only could serve time for the misdemeanor crime of “creating a false police report.” The maximum sentence of five years is hardly ever received, with a handful of cases in the United States ending with an accuser only paying a fine and court cost. The accused may attempt to gain compensation with a lawsuit against the accuser for slander, but that doesn’t result in the person admitting to the slander to receive any jail time. The Innocence Project states that the average amount of time an innocent yet convicted person spends in jail for an alleged rape is twelve years before their cases are exonerated due to the victim finally telling the truth, or DNA evidence proves the victim otherwise. Twelve years in jail for an allegation against an innocent person versus the contrary of a maximum of five years for creating the allegation is not fair to the accused and is unjust.
A lawsuit for slander and stress is an option if a falsely accused rapist was seeking money for the time spent dealing with the case. Although it follows the accused for much longer than that. There are countless celebrities who’ve had their careers ruined based on rape allegations and even greater number of students who have been expelled because of them as well. Just as the Yovino case mentioned previously the two footballs players who were accused were expelled, lost all scholarships and kicked off the football team. They lost their chance at an education and playing the sport they enjoyed because of a woman who admitted to lying about them raping her. The time lost can never be gotten back for the two men, and the case shall follow their names and faces forever. Mandatory time should be taken away from her life just as she has taken away from theirs. In every other situation of law when a person is caught lying about something, they are usually sentenced to jail time. For example, fraud or impersonation are charges of their very own. There is no reason to let people who admitting to fabricating rape maintain being a grey area with the law.
Lying about rape affects the credibility of people who seek to find justice whenever they experience sexual assault. No one would feel comfortable coming forth if they felt that people would attempt to poke holes through their cry for help. Bill Cosby’s infamous rape case began with many women coming forth alleging they had experienced some form of sexual assault with him. Cosby was convicted by an encounter that happened fourteen years prior. The biggest question of the trial and most spectators was, “Why did they wait so long to say something?” Considering his celebrity status and his television personality, Cosby didn’t seem like the type of person that would commit such a crime. Yet he sits behind bars convicted of rape. It is horrible to have to questions such an experience but because of cases such as Chris Brown’s London allegation mentioned previously, we constantly must seek other motives when people coming forth about rape. This is a direct result of numerous cases of false stories created. This constantly takes away from the time we could be searching for the people who are genuinely guilty of rape.
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center splits questionable allegations that is labeled as “Unfounded” into two different categories. A “False Report” is a rape allegation in which the alleged victim has most likely admitted to the creating a false story, or an investigation can prove an encounter never happened. A “Baseless Report” is a rape allegation that doesn’t meet the requirements to charge the accused of rape. Although that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. This is how most police departments in the United States handle most rape allegations. Every study the National Sexual Violence Resource center mentions shows that the rate of false reports are just below ten percent.
With statistics showing that at least one in three women experience some form of sexual assault, discussions began on the subject of what would be considered consent for sexual contact. The MeToo movement has prompted more than two dozen bills to be considered by law. Protest to this has inspired counter-movements such as the Him Too movement as well. The grey area of what we consider consent has caused sever separation amongst people. With the nature about rape already being somewhat hostile, lying about rape does nothing but makes things worse. People tend to choose a side based on their political standpoint and criticize others for question an accuser. With the fabrication of stories seeming to be a thing that will never go away, a lot of times people end up defending someone who later admits to lying about it.
How many people must admit to lying about rape for there to be mandatory consequences directly related to it? The fabrication of these stories has gone on longer than we can remember, and not too much has been done about it. It would be fair to create a law that requires an admitted false accuser to face consequences and take responsibility for their actions. The misdemeanor of wasting police time usually ends with an accuser ending up with a year in jail or less if any time at all, against the amount of time the accused could spend in jail because of a lie. Letting false accusers off with a slap on the wrist like this is unfair to the accused and is enabling the next person to not fear risking telling such a lie. The consequence doesn’t have to be too severe, although something must be changed in order to protect the next generation of people who may go through such a case. It’s hard to completely support every argument of the rape modern day rape culture when there’s fabricated cases standing before a trial. People will always remember when a guilty rapist is convicted, although people will never forget when a person admits to lying about rape against another innocent person.
