55
This image captures the moment a former high school football star breaks down in court when his rape charge is dismissed. The dismissal occurred after the 16-year-old accuser admitted that the alleged incident never happened, concluding six years he spent in prison.
So she ruined a man's life, stole 6 years from him, made it so much harder for other woman to be believed....
And her punishment will be?.......
I think we would all agree she deserves some form of punishment but I think we would also agree we don't want to scare off other false accusers from rescinding their lies. That makes figuring out what to do a lot less black and white.
Genuine question: why would we prioritize avoiding deterrence of rescinding false accusations over deterrence of the false accusation itself?
Genuine Answer: While it may deter new instances, it comes at the cost of potentially harming the currently falsely accused by never letting them get justice because the fake accuser decides the cost is too high to come clean. The most precious thing we have is our time and freedom. What decision would you prefer if you were in the shoes of the falsely accused?
Its not ideal, but it is something that requires a little more consideration.
tbh I would want to see numbers on % of false accusations resolved through admission vs litigation to make this call. If the actual rate of admission is incredibly low already then the value would be negligible. And you have to weigh that against the deterrence value, and the value punishment provides in emotional restitution to the victims.
Fair point. Perhaps a grandfather clause of sorts then to cover both instances?
I think it's also worth adding, the justice system failed this man as well.
Finally someone said it succinctly.
It's news from 2012, you could probably dig and find out what happened to her.
Nothing so as to not discourage genuine victims of other men
What are you talking about?
More punishment than any the Cornell 7 have seen for actually gang raping a woman.
Or men abused by men, or men abused by women. My brother was stabbed by a coked-up ex, and was arrested...until one of the cops realized he was bleeding, and was actually the person who phoned the police for protection. They just assumed he was the abuser...when she was.
Assault is awful. Nobody should tolerate it, but the facts should outweigh the sentiment of the nation, or gender biases and stereotypes.
Every situation is unique, and should be treated as such...without bias.