Almost No One Is Falsely Accused Of Rape

We need to start believing women

You’re probably just as sick as I am with hearing sexual allegations and accusations.

It’s disgusting that in the 21st century, women are still sexually violated by the whims of men. More often by the whims of rich white men.

The last month saw comedian Chris D’Elia, actor Ansel Elgort, and pop star Justin Bieber get accused of sexual misconduct — whether paedophilia, harassment or rape.

And yet, people disbelieve these women. Justin Bieber accused her for wanting “fame and attention”.

That is twisted.

Let us follow the road to justice for a raped woman. Let us call her Eve.

After the incident, Eve may tell her family.

Sometimes the raped woman is believed. Most times, she isn’t.

According to the Open University, “some women see their experiences as a normal part of everyday life — something that they have they simply have to deal with. Others worry about the repercussions if they do report incidents. This includes the potential impact on their professional standing, their ability to get work, their relationships and their personal reputation”.

But let us say that Eve tells her family and they believe her. She then goes to the authorities.

The first member of the authorities would be a police officer.

Only 23% of the cases are reported to the police. Many rapes go unreported.

Statistics show that the police officer would most likely look at her with suspicion and scorn.

But he’ll do his job and carry out an invasive rape test. Eve will be interrogated and questioned as though she was the criminal and not the victim.

Please remember that Eve is traumatised already.

Now she must endure an invasive procedure to prove she is honest and to hopefully catch the bastard.

Michigan State University professor Rebecca Campbell conducted a study of untested rape kits in Detroit. She reported that it wasn’t just “chronic resource depletion” that led to the backlog — but “police treating victims in dehumanizing ways.”

They will suspect, like Justin Bieber, that Eve is doing it for “attention”. They will disbelieve her.

They would leave the rape kit in a storage room to collect dust on the shelf.

In California alone, there are 14,000 untested rape kits. Some argue that is a huge undercount.

But let us assume that by some miracle, the rape kit is tested and Eve files a charge following the results.

After months, maybe years, Eve is finally in a courtroom breathing the same air as her rapist.

Outside the courtroom, the President is saying scary words.

“It is a very scary time for young men in America,” he says. “You could be somebody that was perfect your entire life, and somebody could accuse you of something.”

But President Trump’s words are far from the truth. Almost no one is falsely accused of rape.

In the US, the statistic lies between 2% and 10% of all rape reports being false. Whilst the FBI puts the number around 8%.

In the UK, in one of the largest studies, the Home Office put the percentage as 3% in England and Wales. Sir Keir Starmer, the then director of public prosecutions, notes: false allegations are “serious but are very rare”.

Eve is disbelieved without even being heard.

This widely held misconception says a lot about our Western society. Judges and juries time and time again protect rapists and disbelieve women.

It’s never a scary time for young men if they did nothing wrong. Our laws and logic say that if men commit rape, they should be incarcerated.

But only 4.6 rapists out of 1000 reports of sexual assault are incarcerated.

The infamous Brock Turner case highlights just how twisted our society operates.

Turner was sentenced to six months’ incarceration, followed by three years of probation. But he only served 3 months in jail.

Turner’s father thought his son’s life would be “altered forever” and argued Brock Turner should not be jailed for “20 minutes of action”.

I feel sick writing that. I feel sick knowing men like Brock Turner get ‘a light slap on the wrist’ for a heinous crime. I feel sick knowing that the raped woman had to hear that.

We care more about ruining a man’s career and reputation than we do about ruining a woman’s life and traumatising her.

Brock Turner’s father reduced a brutal sexual assault to “20 minutes of action”.

The fear that sexual allegations could harm a man’s career and reputation has let rapists walk jail-free.

But even so, perhaps Eve is going to get a fair trial. Her lawyer presents her case, her rapist’s lawyer presents his.

She must endure looking at her rapist for however many weeks to get justice for what he stole from her.

He stole her happiness, her smile; she wants him to repent by rotting in jail. So no other woman is robbed from her happiness.

But Eve remembers cases she read about and saw on TV.

Eve remembers that in 1989, 7 members of the Glen Ridge, New Jersey football team raped a 17-year-old girl in the basement of one of the boys’ home. The girl had an intellectual disability with an IQ of 64.

The boys took turns to orally and vaginally penetrate her and using a broom and baseball bat to violate her. They continued to do so even after one passively suggested they should stop.

The girl was then ordered not to tell anyone. In 1993, 3 of the men were sentenced to a maximum of 15 years in prison for ‘young offenders’ for their role in the gang rape.

The townspeople defended the boys. They believed they should not even be charged with a crime. Many parents blamed the teenage girl for seducing the boys, and cheerleaders wore yellow ribbons to support the accused.

The Glen Ridge boys looked exactly like what they were: privileged, white, upper-middle-class boys.

The townspeople thought the boys had everything to lose by being publicly named sex offenders.

This case shows how much society worries over the ‘potential’ of young rapists. How much the rape charge would affect the boys’ future.

And if you think that such regressive views are reserved only for the 1980s and 1990s, then you’re wrong.

Eve remembers in June 2019, Judge James Troiano denied the prosecutors’ motion to charge a 16-year-old boy accused of sexual assault as an adult.

The boy filmed himself raping an intoxicated 16-year-old girl. In a text message to his friends, he sent the video and admitted to raping her.

In a two-hour ruling, Judge Troiano cited the rapist’s academic achievements and privileged background to support his decision not to charge the boy within the full extent of the law.

He said the boy was from a “good family” and that he was “clearly a candidate not for just college but probably for a good college.”

He also added that the “alleged victim here, and I call her the alleged victim” should have considered the boy’s potential when deciding whether to press charges against him.

Judge Troiano disbelieved the 16-year-old victim. Despite the rapist pleading guilty of his crime.

Eve has read many court cases on rape to see a pattern.

The accused are often young white males, often well-educated and from a middle-class family. Just like her rapist.

The judges are white males, often from well-educated middle-class families. Just like her judge.

Standing in the courtroom, the judges see a younger version of themselves.

They point out the accused’s lack of criminal record or their guilt. They point to the accused’s academic achievements and they express their concern over what a lengthy sentence would do to the accused.

They plead for the victims to be “kind”, to “withdraw charges” and to be “strong”.

Or worse yet, they disbelieve the victim. They gaslight the victim and guilt-trip them. They turn a blind eye on what the trauma of the trial could do to the victim.

The judge ignores Eve’s hurt, her trauma, her shame.

One wonders what ‘potential’ these rapists could have. When a rapist sees how easy it is to escape punishment, their only potential becomes committing more violent, heinous crimes.

That they’ll slither free from, again.

What potential do they have, other than to rape more women? This vicious cycle will not end until we believe women. Until we lock these criminals away.

They don’t deserve a light sentence. They deserve harsh punishment.

Make no mistake though, the white man gets away with rape more often than black men.

In a review of studies in 2005, it was found that “young black and Latino males tend to be punished more severely than their white counterparts or black and Latino males of a different age because they are perceived to be particularly dangerous and problematic”.

In 2018, Alec Cook, a white 22-year-old former university student was given a light-weight 3-year prison sentence by Judge Stephen Ehlke for raping 3 female students.

Cook pleaded guilty to raping 3 women and stalking and chocking 2 others.

But with the case of a 16-year-old black boy, Adore Thomas, Judge Ehlke gave him a heavy-handed sentence of 20 years in prison for sexually assaulting one woman.

Both Cook and Thomas committed a rape crime. One was an adult and one was a teen. One was white and one was black. The black teen was given a heavier sentence than the white adult. Despite the white adult committing two other crimes and being a serial rapist.

But regardless of race, rape is a heinous act. Both should receive punishment for their crimes.

But punishment can’t be given if people don’t believe women.

According to RAINN, only 5 out of every 1,000 rapes committed ends in a felony conviction. That means only 0.5%.

What kind of message does that send to Eve? The violation of her body is not important enough to lock up the rapist? Her rape would ruin the rapist’s life and so it’s better to shut up than report it?

But it gets worse because only 0.46% of rape cases find the rapist incarcerated.

You know the end outcome for Eve. She is not going to get justice.

Her rapist will walk free. Another woman will report him for rape. Again, he’ll walk free.

If society is to be safer for women like Eve, we need to believe them.

Some rapists roam our streets, others hide in our very homes. It’s time to lock them up. It’s time to believe women.

Because I could bet all my money that Chris D’Elia, Ansel Elgort and Justin Bieber aren’t innocent. They’re filthy and need to be locked up.

Whether or not they’re locked up depends on whether you believe the women. Every one of them.

Do you believe her?

Fatima Sultan is a writer, tutor and self-proclaimed nerd. She writes about life and its many excitements and disappointments. She also apparently likes referring to herself in the third person. You can read more of her writing by subscribing to her free newsletter.