Trump says it's a scary time for young men because they can be accused of a crime
they didn't commit. That got me to thinking about how many false rape claims are actually made. Turns out that 2 - 10% of rape reports are determined to be false claims.
But those appear to be anomalies. Studies suggest the prevalence of false reporting on sexual assault is between 2% and 10%, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
And there's a big caveat to those numbers: "Research shows that rates of false reporting are frequently inflated, in part because of inconsistent definitions and protocols," the resource center said.
For example, some law enforcement agencies might label a rape claim as "false" just because there's not enough corroborating evidence to prosecute. (Those cases would be more accurately described as "baseless" rather than "false."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/10/03/health/sexual-assault-false-reports/index.html
That got me thinking about the number of rape kits that are collected from rape victims and never tested. There are thousands of them.
It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of rape kits sit untested in police department and crime lab storage facilities across the country in what is known as the rape kit backlog. Each kit represents a lost opportunity to bring healing and justice to a survivor of sexual violence and safety to a community.
The rape kit backlog comprises two distinct but related problems. The first part of the backlog occurs when rape kits are collected and booked into evidence, but detectives and/or prosecutors do not request DNA analysis. These kits may remain in a police evidence storage facility indefinitely. This is often referred to as the “untested” or “unsubmitted” rape kit backlog.
http://www.endthebacklog.org/backlog/what-rape-kit-backlog
When rape is reported, the victims body is treated as the crime scene. Gathering DNA evidence is a long and invasive process. To have this evidence go untested means that the rapist is likely still walking free with the potential to commit further crimes.
To add insult to injury, when sexual assaults are reported, the victim is often treated as though they were responsible for what has occurred to them.
Is it really surprising that many victims of sexual assault don't come forward to report the crime?
= new reply since forum marked as read
Historically, that guy looks like someone who might look like someone else who maybe thought about whistling at a white woman, was enough grounds to lynch young black males. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till
While rich white guys get appointed to the Supreme Court or elected President after bragging about sexual assault.
And even Trump himself was involved in false racially-charged accusations and calls for draconian punishment.
"Donald Trump Says Central Park Five Are Guilty, Despite DNA Evidence" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/donald-trump-says-central-park-five-are-guilty-despite-dna-n661941
