posted 01-09-2008 04:04 PM
MichNews.com
Research Shows False Accusations of Rape Common
By Marc Angelucci and Glenn Sacks
Sep 15, 2004Despite its many painful and unseemly aspects, the Kobe Bryant rape case and the
media storm surrounding it have drawn attention to a severely neglected problem: fa
rape accusations.
In her recent Daily Journal column, high profile feminist professor Wendy Murphy
dismisses the problem of false accusations as an "ugly myth," and calls for "boiling
rage" activism to address what she perceives as the anti-woman bias of the criminal
justice system. Like many victims' advocates, Murphy cannot seem to fathom the
possibility that Bryant could be innocent. However, research shows that false allegati
of rape are frighteningly common.
According to a nine-year study conducted by former Purdue sociologist Eugene J.
Kanin, in over 40 percent of the cases reviewed, the complainants eventually admitte
that no rape had occurred (Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 23, No. 1, 1994). Kanin
also studied rape allegations in two large Midwestern universities and found that 50
percent of the allegations were recanted by the accuser.
Kanin found that most of the false accusers were motivated by a need for an alibi or
desire for revenge. Kanin was once well known and lauded by the feminist movemen
for his groundbreaking research on male sexual aggression. His studies on false rap
accusations, however, received very little attention.
Kanin's findings are hardly unique. In 1985 the Air Force conducted a study of 556 ra
accusations. Over one quarter of the accusers admitted, either just before they took a detector test of after they had failed it, that no rape occurred. A further investigation by independent reviewers found that 60 percent of the original rape allegations were false.
The most common reasons the women gave for falsely accusing rape were "spite or
revenge," and to compensate for feelings of guilt or shame (Forensic Science Digest
vol. 11. no. 4, December 1985).
A Washington Post investigation of rape reports in seven Virginia and Maryland
counties in 1990 and 1991 found that nearly one in four were unfounded. When contacted by the Post, many of the alleged victims admitted that they had lied.
It is true, of course, that not every accuser who recants had accused falsely. But it is also true that some who do not recant were not telling the truth.
According to a 1996 Department of Justice Report, of the roughly 10,000 sexual assa
cases analyzed with DNA evidence over the previous seven years, 2,000 excluded th
primary suspect, and another 2,000 were inconclusive. The report notes that these
figures mirror an informal National Institute of Justice survey of private laboratories, and suggests that there exists "some strong, underlying systemic problems that generate erroneous accusations and convictions."
That false allegations are a major problem has been confirmed by several prominent
prosecutors, including Linda Fairstein, who heads the New York County District
Attorney's Sex Crimes Unit. Fairstein, the author of Sexual Violence: Our War Agains
Rape, says, "there are about 4,000 reports of rape each year in Manhattan. Of these
about half simply did not happen."
Craig Silverman, a former Colorado prosecutor known for his zealous prosecution of rapists during his 16-year career, says that false rape accusations occur with "scary
frequency." As a regular commentator on the Bryant trial for Denver's ABC affiliate,
Silverman noted that "any honest veteran sex assault investigator will tell you that rape
is one of the most falsely reported crimes." According to Silverman, a Denver sexassault
unit commander estimates that nearly half of all reported rape claims are false.
The media has largely ignored these studies and experts and has instead promoted the
notion that only 2% of rape allegations are false. This figure was made famous by
feminist Susan Brownmiller in her 1975 book Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape.
Brownmiller was relaying the alleged comments of a New York judge concerning the
rate of false rape accusations in a New York City police precinct in 1974.
A 1997 Columbia Journalism Review analysis of rape statistics noted that the 2%
statistic is often falsely attributed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and has no
clear and credible study to support it. The FBI's statistic for "unfounded" rape
accusations is 9%, but this definition only includes cases where the accuser recants
the evidence contradicts her story. Instances where the case is dismissed for lack of evidence are not included in the "unfounded" category. Brownmiller's credibility can be assessed by her assertion in Against Our Will that rape is "nothing more or less than conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear.
Murphy also contends that the criminal justice system is stacked against women, and
that the law reform initiatives promoted during the past three decades have "failed to
make a bit of difference in the justice system's handling of rape cases." In reality,
feminist advocacy and the now ubiquitous rape-shield laws have made an enormous
difference in the way the system treats rape cases.
Some of these changes have been fair, and have led to greater protections for rape
victims. However, others have made it more difficult for men to defend themselves, w
at times horrifying consequences for the accused.
For example, in December, the Arkansas Supreme Court denied an appeal by Ralph
Taylor, who is serving a 13-year sentence for rape. The court held that evidence of th
victim's alleged prior false allegations of rape was inadmissible because it was
considered sexual conduct within the meaning of the state's rape shield statute. In the
case, the defense proffered the testimony of two friends of the alleged victim, both of
whom claimed that she had previously falsely accused another man of raping her. The
court added that admitting such evidence could "inflame the jury."
In her book Ceasefire: Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve True
Equality, Boston Globe columnist Cathy Young details numerous questionable ruling
which potentially innocent men were prevented from properly defending themselves
the rape shield laws which Murphy endorses.
One of these cases concerns an 18 year-old Wisconsin boy named Charles Steadma who in 1993 was sentenced to eight years in prison for allegedly raping an older woman. Steadman was prohibited from revealing that his accuser was currently facing criminal charges of having sex with minors, and thus had an excellent reason to claim that the sex with Steadman was not consensual. Such evidence was deemed related
his accuser's sexual history and thus inadmissible.
In 1997, sportscaster Marv Albert was accused of assault and battery during a sexua1 encounter with a woman with whom he had had a 10-year sexual relationship. Albert
sought to introduce evidence that his accuser, who had been in a mental hospital six weeks before the alleged assault, had previously made false accusations against me
who had left her, as Albert, who was engaged to be married, was planning to do. Albert's offer of proof was denied, compromising his ability to defend himself. Facing possible life sentence, he chose to plead guilty to misdemeanor assault.
Murphy's dogged attacks on Ruckriegle as a veritable "advocate for the accused" are
also without foundation. Far from being a black robed patriarch in league with the
defendant, Ruckriegle's rulings were reasonable and, if anything, minimalist. It is not rulings but the reaction to them by victims' advocates and the media which are
worrisome.
For example, Ruckriegle granted a defense motion that Bryant's accuser would not be
referred to as "the victim" in court. Such labeling, as opposed to "alleged victim" or
"accuser," undermines the presumption of innocence. However, this motion was hotly
contested by both the prosecution and by victims' rights organizations, which filed
amicus briefs and complained that Ruckriegle's decision created an anti-woman double standard.
Ruckriegle also allowed Bryant to introduce evidence that his accuser had had other
sexual encounters in the 72 hours before her medical examination for the alleged
assault. Bryant's defense team contended that the microscopic vaginal injuries the
prosecution claimed were suffered in the alleged assault could instead have been the
product of various consensual sexual encounters.
Media commentators labeled the 72 hour decision a "bombshell for prosecutors" that
"threatens all women," and likened Ruckriegle to a man who has "tiptoed into a
minefield."
Murphy is correct that rape is a horrible crime. But false accusations of rape are every bit as horrible. They are a form of psychological rape that can emotionally, socially, and economically destroy a person even if there is no conviction, especially for those of less fame and fortune than Bryant. The stigma attaches to the falsely accused for life. Few believe them and few care. Prosecutors systematically refuse to prosecute the perpetrators. And victims' advocates like Murphy refuse to see falsely accused men a victims, and instead work to minimize and conceal the problem.
---------
This column first appeared in the Los Angeles Daily Journal and San Francisco Daily
Journal (9/15/04).
Marc E. Angelucci is a public interest attorney in Los Angeles and is the president of Los Angeles Chapter of the National Coalition of Free Men.
Polygraph Place Bulletin Board
posted 01-07-2008 09:19 AM
