US - Police: False Criminal Reports Must Stop?

What are some ways to discourage women from making false reports?

Generalizing a bit here. The FBI states that false allegations of rape are the same as any other crime. So I imagine men are making alleging they are victims of crime as well.

The hysteria surrounding false rape reporting is due to a number of issues, many of which cannot be fully elaborated upon here. They include institutional patriarchy and the lower position of women in the workplace, individuals’ desires to make themselves feel safe at the expense of blaming victims for crimes, and a disregard for a woman’s right to consume alcohol, have fun, and engage in sexual activities without being assaulted.

But most saliently, misunderstandings occur due to errors in police coding procedures, public misconceptions about the motivations for false allegations, and the simultaneous overrepresentation of false reports and underrepresentation of factual cases in mainstream media. It’s also important to recognize that victim-blaming strategies and a belief in high rates of false rape reports are closely related; they feed off of one another to create a cultural environment in which the majority of assaulted women feel too afraid of public rejection to report the crimes committed against them, and the majority of rapists remain free to continue preying on vulnerable victims.

According to a recent study by the American Prosecutors Research Institute, false rape allegations account for two to eight percent of all reported rapes. This low figure may shock many readers who have heard claims that over 40 percent of rape reports are false. In the past, errors in police coding procedures have often been a reason for high claims of false reports; many reports categorized as “false” actually should be recorded as “unsubstantiated” (which means that there is insufficient evidence to move forward with the case) or “baseless” (indicating that the claim is considered truthful, but the incident doesn’t meet specific elements of the crime). Some reasons for incorrectly categorizing reports include pressure on police officers to close out cases and make their departments appear successful, difficulties with agencies not tracking and differentiating between “false” and “baseless” reports, and a lack of supervision within and across law enforcement agencies regarding careful training and implementation of accurate coding procedures.

A primary myth about false rape reports focuses on the belief that women “cry rape” because they are seeking revenge on men who have wronged them in some way. However, according to this study, the reality is that the vast majority of false allegations “are actually filed by people with serious psychological and emotional problems.” And notably, people who falsely file claims usually do not name specific individuals, but instead “involve only a vaguely described stranger.” These research findings support the theory that people who falsely allege rape do so not out of desire for revenge against a specific person, but because they seek general attention and sympathy.

Finally, myths about high rates of false reports are perpetuated by media stories that provide excessive coverage of highly sensationalized cases. News agencies make little effort to reach out to the academic community to include professional opinions about the validity of the majority of rape reports. Instead, the general public is bombarded with stories about “gold-digging” women who falsely accuse athletes or prominent public figures. Very rarely do we hear the countless true stories of women and children who are abused and manipulated by men they know and trust.

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to reflect upon some of the reasons why, so often, people are willing to quickly jump to the defense of accused perpetrators, and are so eager to immediately dismiss the claims of victims. I challenge you, now that you are armed with the knowledge that 92-98 percent of rape allegations are true, to contemplate the reasons why you may be so willing to believe that your neighbor, co-worker, friend, or family member is not a rapist, but that your neighbor, coworker, friend, or family member is lying about being raped. Why do so many of us prefer to dismiss rape victims and defend rapists? Take a few moments to talk with a loved one. Force yourself to face these difficult questions. Only by challenging our preconceptions and educating ourselves about the issues can we achieve justice for rape victims

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If a person lies about rape (let's in the interest of equality, not mention gender) there are quite a few crimes they are committing. So throw the book at them.

It's wasting police time, slander, libel, defamation of character - whatever.

That's What She Said - I'd do all that has been mentioned by that members, but as is so typical they focus on potential female victims but ignore the REAL male victims... the men falsely accused are the victims of a terrible crime, but get ignored in favour of 'possible' rape victims.

The only way to discourage them is to send them to prison. What else are you going to use? Harsh language?

This is just like any other type of fraud only infinitely more damaging to the victim.

PS- Congratulations, Deidra, for wheeling out the same bogus statistics and phony arguments that feminists always resort to when rationalizing/minimizing false rape accusations. In fact, false rape accusations are all too common -- far more common than propagandists like you would have us believe. Reading your post it is easy to see how the Duke 88 could be so biased.

PSS- A woman's right to "consume alcohol, have fun," etc. is inferior to a man's right to be free from false rape accusations. You really don't understand why people don't want their fathers, sons and brothers to be victimized? You really and truly think that wanting to protect innocent men is the result of "institutionalized patriarchy?"

People intent on doing it won't be discouraged. It's not as if it's the entire female population doing it. Just like it isn't the whole male population beating their wives.

A similar, but useless question would be: How can we stop men beating their wives.

Am I right, Eoghan?

"What are some ways to discourage women from making false reports?" -- Simple. Make the punishment for false rape allegations equal to the punishment the man would get if the accusation is proven to be true.

We can:

- arrest them and but them in jail for a while so they can THINK ABOUT WHAT THEY'VE DONE!

- Have them pay a fine

- Community service maybe?

- Stand on the side of the road with a sign that reads, I FALSLY ACCUSED SOMEONE OF RAPE AND BECAUSE OF LIARS LIKE ME, REAL RAPE VICTIMS EVERYWHERE ARE HAVING A HARDER AND HARDER TIME PUTTING THEIR RAPISTS BEHIND BARS.

The same way we discourage people from committing any crime, send them to prison.

they must stop

*Quietly lifts the phone - eyes Eoghan with a wry smirk ....... and calls the police*