From the guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/women/stor...930818,00.html

If I were raped today, I would not report it
Julie Bindel on why she has lost faith in the system

When I was 18 I worked in a pub, and, one evening, the landlord and his son tried to rape me. Somehow I managed to get away. I didn't report the incident to the police because, back in 1980, it was widely recognised that women who reported a sexual assault were usually seen as liars. I imagined that the police would have grilled me on why I was upstairs with two men (I was taking a sneaky break and sharing a cigarette with the son), and why I had been drinking (I had had half a pint of lager). For years afterwards, while campaigning against rape and other crimes as a founder of the group Justice for Women, I bitterly regretted not reporting my attackers. My overwhelming feeling was guilt. What if they succeeded next time?

Now that guilt has been replaced by anger. While in the 1980s and 1990s police and public attitudes towards rape victims seemed to be improving, they more recently appear to be ricocheting backwards. So much so, that a couple of years ago I made a pact with myself, which I vowed never to reveal publicly. At this juncture I feel I must, though: if I was raped now, I do not think I would report it to the police

Those who report their attackers and see their cases either discontinued or the defendant acquitted - as happens with almost 95% of reported rapes - are now faced with the risk of being identified, vilified and even criminalised. Anonymity was granted for rape victims in the 1970s, but last week for the first time a woman was publicly "named and shamed" after reporting a sexual assault. Lord Campbell-Savours, the Labour peer, used parliamentary privilege to identify the woman during a debate on rape legislation in the House of Lords, describing her as "a serial and repeated liar" after a man initially found guilty of a sex attack on her had his conviction overturned. Her identity was then published in the Daily Mail. The woman denies lying, and says the only other allegations she has made are of sexual abuse by her father (who is now dead) and an assault by a boyfriend she had as a teenager.

Then there was the 18-year-old "lap dancer" recently jailed for six months for perverting the course of justice. Various footballers accused of "roasting" women have been exonerated, while the women who accused them of rape are vilified as "prostitutes" and "gold-diggers". In the past seven years, women have also been sued for defamation by men accused of raping them after their cases were discontinued by the police.

And, given the current media fixation on women bringing "false allegations", it would be easy to assume our prisons were full of innocent men. In fact, the conviction rate for rape is at an all-time low. In 1985, 1,800 complaints of rape were made and one in four men convicted. In 2003, 13,000 complaints were made but only one in 20 was convicted.

A story I heard recently only confirmed for me that if the situation does not drastically improve, not only are conviction rates going to fall further, but reports to police will too.

.....

In 1982, a fly-on-the-wall documentary, Police: A Complaint of Rape, showed a rape complainant being interviewed by Thames Valley police. The police officers were shown bullying a woman into discontinuing her complaint against three men, with one saying to her: "This is the biggest load of bollocks I've ever heard." It provoked anger at the system and swiftly led to a change in police procedures. The documentary showed that police were trained to test such claims rigorously at the initial reporting stage in a way that left the complainant feeling humiliated, frightened and intimidated. As a result, police were retrained to handle complainants with respect and with the presumption of belief.

Despite improvements, there remains a culture within the police that assumes that women who report rape are lying. One study found that a third of police assumed that at least a quarter of all reports were false. Research actually suggests, though, that numbers of false allegations of rape are no higher than for any other crime. Assumptions of false allegations are plainly dangerous. One case discontinued by police as a "false allegation" involved a man who turned out to be a serial sex attacker. Eight years later he was convicted of 24 rapes.

A police officer I spoke to, who asked not to be named, said that officers dealing with rape have recently been told to be "rigorous" in their pursuit of false allegations, "and root them out early on".

Dave Gee, vice chairman of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) working group on rape denies that police have been given such a directive and believes that false allegations of rape are rare. "There is no research whatsoever which suggests it's endemic," he says. "Either way, there should be no pre-judging of victims. A report of rape should be treated as rape."

If more cases such as Shabnam's occur, we may as well forget about the criminal justice system and train groups of vigilantes to exact revenge and, hopefully, deter attacks. Because if I were raped, I would rather take my chances as a defendant in court, than as a complainant in a system that seems bent on proving that rape is a figment of malicious women's imagination.

Stupid article.

If a woman is found to be definately lying, then she might get in trouble with the police, but just because a rape trial is discontinued doesn't mean a woman will be automatically accused as a liar.
But, apparently the author believes that women never lie about rape. I don't think she would be happy until all mean accused of rape are treated as if they are guilty until proven guilty.

For me, the last sentence proves just how idiotic the author of the article is.

Sir Matthew Hale had it right. Rape is a very difficult crime to prove.

In many cases, I would even say most, it is damn near impossible.

Absent more compelling evidence, if the entire case balances upon
a "he said/she said", then the ONLY proper thing to do is to throw the case
out of court.

We must NOT compromise standards of evidence in the criminal justice
system.

It is ALWAYS better to let the guilty go free than to make the innocent
suffer. ALWAYS!!!!!!!!

"Ending" rape does not deserve to be pursued single-mindedly as a GOAL.
Doing so will generate bottomless human misery, suffering of the innocent,
and eventually lead to a police state if you push it to extremes.

Who ever said the universe was fair? Eh?

A world free of rape deserves to be a reality, some day, as an OUTCOME of
many actions and policies undertaken with right mindfulness.

Or in other words, there's no point to addressing problems in isolation.
When the human race achieves general enlightenment, things like
rape will no longer happen.

Until then, the best we can do is teach potential victims to avoid
compromising situations and risk-taking behaviors. Feminists may call me
every bad name in the book if they wish, and see if I care....

N.B. Nothing in the above statement should be taken as politically correct
or suchwise intended.

Sir Matthew Hale had it right. Rape is a very difficult crime to prove.

In many cases, I would even say most, it is damn near impossible.

Absent more compelling evidence, if the entire case balances upon
a "he said/she said", then the ONLY proper thing to do is to throw the case
out of court.

We must NOT compromise standards of evidence in the criminal justice
system.

It is ALWAYS better to let the guilty go free than to make the innocent
suffer. ALWAYS!!!!!!!!

"Ending" rape does not deserve to be pursued single-mindedly as a GOAL.
Doing so will generate bottomless human misery, suffering of the innocent,
and eventually lead to a police state if you push it to extremes.

Who ever said the universe was fair? Eh?

A world free of rape deserves to be a reality, some day, as an OUTCOME of
many actions and policies undertaken with right mindfulness.

Or in other words, there's no point to addressing problems in isolation.
When the human race achieves general enlightenment, things like
rape will no longer happen.

Until then, the best we can do is teach potential victims to avoid
compromising situations and risk-taking behaviors. Feminists may call me
every bad name in the book if they wish, and see if I care....

N.B. Nothing in the above statement should be taken as politically correct
or suchwise intended.

I wish all of these so-called victim's rights groups and agenda filled activists could just stand up one day and collectively admit the truth, that they make lots of money off rape. That the television news and media in general makes allot of money off rape. That rape controversy in any form is carefully tended and pruned to blossom, because the more attention people pay to rape, for better or worse, the more money there is to be made working to prevent it. Rape is an industry to these people, and the victims, the facts and the criminals are all irrelevant factors next to how much money can be siphoned from the government and private charity to fill their pockets.

I wish all of these so-called victim's rights groups and agenda filled activists could just stand up one day and collectively admit the truth, that they make lots of money off rape. That the television news and media in general makes allot of money off rape. That rape controversy in any form is carefully tended and pruned to blossom, because the more attention people pay to rape, for better or worse, the more money there is to be made working to prevent it. Rape is an industry to these people, and the victims, the facts and the criminals are all irrelevant factors next to how much money can be siphoned from the government and private charity to fill their pockets.

She's making a pretty broad assumption that every woman who yells "rape" has actually been raped. Besides that, the definition of the crime is so very broad now, that almost any interaction between a man and a woman is a potential rape.

My ex claimed rape, was a perfect move. She said she wanted to get back together, she claimed RAPE the same day.

The DAY after she moved in, she claimed rape and a restraining order was granted. I luckily packed my stuff before court. I was never allowed back in the house, and it was sold at a loss a year later. (So I couldn't have money for a lawyer, i was scammed perfectly...)

I've had trauma for 6 months after the divorce due to her abuse of the court system, thinking about suicide.

Men suffer emotionally from false rape charges too.

Yeah Sir_Iw I understand about false allegations. I was accused of beating my wife every friday whether she needed it or not. Which was false as my current wife can attest I can't even watch a woman or a child be abused on tv I have to turn my head. When a man gets the shit kicked out of him I get mad as hell now. And the suicide thing I definately understand as I have thoughts of it dailey so far fear of what it would do to my kids is the only thing that has stopped me. I hope you can tough it out you would be missed.

Quote from KellyMac

She's making a pretty broad assumption that every woman who yells "rape" has actually been raped. Besides that, the definition of the crime is so very broad now, that almost any interaction between a man and a woman is a potential rape.

Yip 100% correct.. Its either rape or a crap shag that makes a man feel like a fucking dildo!