Suicides from false accusations ruining people’s lives are not rare and had a huge uptick during the MeToo movement, especially in the US. Anonymity should be the most important thing for any case.
A few years ago in the ACT…
The former corrections officer was remanded in custody and spent nearly four months in Goulburn jail before the charges were dropped
"I’m not the man I was before’
In an emotional court appearance, the formerly jailed man read out a victim impact statement saying he had lost everything.
“There were times when I considered ending it all,” he told the court.
The false accuser only got 3 years. Orchestrating, making a fake crime scene, dragging a person through jail and court, trying to destroy them completely, and almost got as far as causing suicide. Just 3 years. Like, someone can murder someone, but it takes a special sick and dangerous mind to cause someone to kill themself instead or have their life taken from them through prison and record. And only 3 years.
No one can weigh up which is worse, but rape and false accusations of rape are clearly life destroying actions on an innocent person. Only the sickest of minds would do either.
The rate of false accusations of rape is really hard to determine but is generally regarded as being pretty low (Vicpol puts it at ~5% based on studies). It’s also extremely hard to get a good number though, since false does not mean unfounded.
I don’t think it’s justified drawing an equivalence between rape and rape accusations given the evidence we have on the rates, it makes it seem like false accusations are happening way more than they actually are.
Also given who this probably is, this is likely not the only accusation of rape also, which decreases the likelihood the accusations are false I would suggest.
The other factor is that only a small fraction of these incidents are even reported to begin with… 87 per cent of victim-survivors of sexual violence didn’t report that experience to the police
Anonymity should be the most important thing for any case.
So, are you saying that all trials for any and all crimes or suits should never name either party?
I think they are saying names shouldn’t be released until after a verdict had been rendered. Just the implication is enough to ruin someone’s life even before a guilty verdict had been rendered.
For all cases? No matter what the alleged crime or lawsuit?
And I’d still really like to hear @saltesc@lemmy.world’s perspective too
