Prevalence of serious consequences over a false accusation (FA)

[worriedsickincanada]

Hey again.

I'm just wondering...

What's the prevalence of false accusations of sexual assault and/or rape directly leading to harsh legal consequences such as probation and/or incarceration in the United Kingdom? Does anybody know about this as it applies to my country, Canada, or the country to the south, the United States?

What about less severe legal consequences such as arrest, facing formal rape / sexual assault charges and being remanded to await trial before ultimately being acquitted / found not guilty / declared innocent?

Do the majority of false accusations of rape and sexual assault lead to the above, or is it mostly kept within the rumours of social circles which are eventually forgotten about / dismissed as ****?

This anecdote is somewhat relevant but a bit different...

I have an Internet friend from the United States who's girlfriend cheated on him with another guy; both dudes were unaware that this was happening, as she pretended to be in a committed relationship with the 2 of them, behind both of their backs. Well, my friend found out and confronted her about it, and her response was to begin a smear campaign which alleged that my friend was a sociopath (clinical diagnosis is Antisocial personality disorder, same diagnosis for a psychopath) who abused her throughout the course of their relationship. But, she was later turned out as a compulsive liar and so nothing happened with this.

Anything similar happen with false accusations of rape and sexual assault that any of you have experience in or know of?

[Franticwithworry]

No-one in authority in any country so far as I know keeps records of or tracks false accusations. Part of the difficulty is in establishing a false accusation as a matter of fact. Unless the accuser openly states that they lied, it's still an issue of one's word against another.

That's why even a not guilty verdict on it's own isn't proof positive of innocence and there is still the 'no smoke without fire' brigade. Sadly, some of the guilty go free because there isn't enough evidence to prove guilt and the factually innocent fall foul of those who think that an accusation means guilt.

Even when a judge states that no crime has been committed, the accusation stays on file, and there is no official exoneration for the accused.

It's horrible.

[worriedsickincanada]

Yes, but I'm on about some of the numbers that I have seen on this forum such as:

"80% of false rape accusations get No Further Action"
"Only 8% of people ever accused of rape are actually incarcerated"

and etc.

[Franticwithworry]

I think that it's 80% of all sexual crime allegations that get NFA and 8% of all claims that end up with court action (apparently) and these are figures that the Crown Prosecution Service use to justify their drive for more convictions.

There are no official returns to back up these claims so far as I know, but any experienced solicitor will say something similar based on their experience.

It's certainly true that many if not most false accusations are recognised as unprosecutable, and there is much comfort to be drawn from that, but I'm also also mindful of 'There are lies, damned lies - and then there are statistics.'

[worriedsickincanada]

So an NFA would constitute... what, exactly?

Would it constitute a girl getting dumped by a guy, so she makes up a false rape accusation for revenge, but the false rape accusation doesn't make it to the police because everybody knows that she's already lying?

Would it constitute a man being arrested because a girl who he hooked up with at a pub accused him of sexual assault, he gets bailed and no charges are eventually laid?

Etc.

[Franticwithworry]

An NFA (no further action) is any case that the CPS or police decide not to prosecute for lack of evidence. The complainant's statement is evidence, so if that is all they have and they decide not to proceed, they make no comment and keep no records as to the possibility that the statement is false, inaccurate, a pack of lies or whatever.

The only times there can be complete exoneration for someone accused of something that did not happen, be it a complaint made up to hide infidelity, or for jealousy, or out of anger or for ANY other reason, whether the event was supposed to be recent OR historical and decades ago, is if the complainant admits the lie to the authorities AND the authorities agree to expunge the record of the complaint from the record. That rarely happens.

It even happens that a case gets to the day of the trial, the legal teams and the judge decide that NO CRIME happened, so the case is not brought to court, but the accused is left in limbo and told to go home before getting into the courtroom. Even then, the matter stays on the court record as far as it got and the file is not destroyed.

An NFA is simply a case where there is no trial, regardless of the supposed circumstances of the complaint. Unfortunately, even genuine complaints can end in NFA if there isn't enough evidence for a reasonable hope of a prosecution, and the decision not to proceed is always somewhat subjective. That's why complainant's are given the chance to appeal the decision and get it looked at again.

In your examples, the first would not be NFA because if the complaint never made it to the police for consideration, they would not be making a decision. The fact that 'everyone' knew she was lying would probably have no bearing on whether or not SHE reported it to the police. Whether or not she does is the bit that matters.

In the second if the police/CPS decided not to prosecute, there would be NFA (no further action) but as I say, there would be no record as to their thinking on the validity of the complaint. All they are interested in and record is the prospect of a successful prosecution, that is, a guilty verdict. Nothing else matters to them.

Edited to add - This is the situation in the UK. Canada may have different processes/procedures.

[worriedsickincanada]

Alright, thank you for all of this information.

So, are the chances of all of what we've discussed happening on this thread very likely nowadays in general, or does it all depend on the individual case?

The more I look into these false rape accusations, the more they seem like things which come out of a hazy hangover after sex, a result of peer pressuring from the accuser's peer group and whatnot. Not to mention, to cover up cheating and for revenge over bad breakups. Also, smear campaigns and character assassinations which are carried out by psychopathic and narcissistic individuals; narcissistic as in people with Narcissistic personality disorder or people with those kinds of narcissistic personality traits. Narcissists are infamous for smear campaigns of this calibre.

So... on the above note which is a bit of a digression... no having sex while drunk, high on drugs, and no casual sex with strangers, loose acquaintances or friends who I barely know yet. Don't get into a sticky situation where you're helping a girl cheat who has a boyfriend/husband/casual sex partner. If you are to have sex with someone, make sure that they're a trusted girlfriend / highly trusted and known friend who's comfortable with having casual sex with you.

Anything I'm missing? I realize that a false rape accusation can come out from nowhere but I'm trying to lower my chances to the smallest degree possible.

[Franticwithworry]

You're on the right track for minimising your chances. Of course there are other circumstances - being in a caring or teaching profession makes you vulnerable. Even having any member of the family with an axe to grind or a grudge can be problematic.

The sad truth is that there will ALWAYS be false and malicious accusations, and some of them will come out of left field with no warning. People have been accused when they can show that they were nowhere near the complainant in the time period alleged.

It's a minefield, with no real consistency as to how complaints are handled. Even the most ridiculous, on the face of it, claims can end up in court. That's not to scare you - most don't - but I think even more daft reports would get dealt with properly if there was a bit more common sense applied, and there wasn't the pressure to believe every complainant rather than treat them professionally and take them seriously, (doesn't the accused have an equal right to be believed?), there was a full and balanced investigation of complaints and there wasn't the irrational and unrelenting push for convictions rather than a pursuit of the truth.

A basic acceptance from the authorities that false accusations aren't as rare as some would like them to think would be a good start. But yes, not having casual sex with people you don't know, especially while intoxicated is a good start to avoiding trouble. :-)

[worriedsickincanada]

I'm starting to not see the point in getting into relationships and especially having sex because I've always had an innate paranoia of being falsely accused of rape after consensual sex.

Thanks for the answers anyway.

[Franticwithworry]

Please don't be too scared. False accusations are more common than the authorities will accept, it's true, but the whole business of sexual crime is vastly overstated and overclaimed, I think. Too much scaremongering goes on and too many would have us think that every man is a potential rapist.

That is patently not true. There are many good and gentle men in the world and included among them are you and all the men so many people on this forum are working hard to support.

I've tried to give you bare facts, but because although bad things can happen - life's like that - the odds against being falsely accused are in your favour. Overall, most false accusations are NOT prosecuted and most that are get the correct result. Women and girls have long bridled against being given common sense advice about not putting themselves at risk of sexual assault/rape. Sadly, there's more need these days for men and boys to follow common sense advice to avoid being falsely accused.

Please don't let that put you off pursuing a happy and healthy sex life. Just think how many sexual encounters happen every day and how few are problematic, really. Again, the odds against there being any kind of long lasting problem are in your favour, and by its nature, problems are concentrated here in the forum.