Interview

[Hayley Cavill]

Hello


I'm looking for someone who can contribute to a disussion on BBC Radio Manchester on Monday morning. We want to hear from someone, preferably in the Manchester area who has been wrongly accused of Rape and cleared. We want to hightlight the long term implications of being falsely accused.

If the legal reforms unveiled yesterday go through, it would mean a man will be guilty of rape if he has sex with a woman who is judged too drunk to give her consent.

The plans are aimed at driving up the low conviction rate for rape, but we want to discuss the impact it could have on the number of individuals who are falsely accused.

If it's something you've experienced and you want to help us hightlight the issue, please get in touch.

many thanks

[diana_holbourn]

I'm wondering if it could be a good idea to create a new offence of taking advantage of a person while they're in a vulnerable position, which would cover having sex with a person when they're drunk and might reasonably be expected not to have consented if sober. It might create more criminals by encouraging people to get others charged with something, when they now might just go away feeling ashamed and blaming themselves for their foolishness at allowing themselves to have been taken advantage of, and feeling resentment at the person they had sex with for using them. But the sentence wouldn't have to be as long as a sentence for rape, and it would mean that those who might be charged with rape soon are more likely to be charged with something more minor. And it might be a deterrant against people planning to go out for the evening and take advantage of someone when their judgment will be impaired because they're drunk. It might help to foster a new attitude.