Back on the ol' false rape accusation train in /r/todayilearned. Is accidentally accusing the wrong person of rape the same as raping them? (np.reddit.com)
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13 ups - 9 downs = 4 votes
18 comments submitted at 17:13:59 on May 19, 2014 by Anemoni
The consequences of a false accusation of any crime, rape included, are certainly potentially horrible. Just ask anyone who has spent time in jail for a crime they didn't commit.
I do think that people who willfully and knowingly falsely accuse someone of a crime should be subject to the same punishment that the accused would have received had they been convicted of that crime.
Also, if a person is convicted of a crime they didn't commit based on a false accusation and they serve jail time the false accuser (if convicted) should have to serve a day for day sentence. So, if the falsely accused was in prison for 5 years the mandatory minimum punishment for the false accuser should be 5 years without the possibility of parole.
Except there was no malicious intent on her part. She did not falsely accuse him on purpose. I think that people that do knowingly accuse someone of a false crime should face some serious jail time, rape included, but that was not the case here.
Trying to tie the two together just makes you look ill informed.
>She picked Cotton. Later, police put him in a physical lineup and she picked him again. “It was 100 percent certain,” she said.
That doesn't sound like an accident to me.
There's actually a lot written on this particular story. If I remember correctly, the two men looked similar and had very similar tattoos. The woman does speaking engagements with him and has talked about the fact that when she remembers her rape she remembers Cotton as the rapist. It's more an issue of how faulty memory can be and how stuff like police lineups should only loosely be considered evidence. I'd highly recommend reading up on their story.
Yes, I'm sure it was a long con to accuse the wrong man (a stranger to her), have him go to jail for 11 years, have him find the real rapist and get a confession out of him, have him be freed from prison, then become friends with him, write a book, and go on a speaking tour. That conniving bitch.
and she would've got away with it if it wasn't for those meddeling /u/rasterizedlines and that dog!
If you literally read anything about what either of them are doing now, you'd realize the whole point is that it was an accident. False identification.
> False identification.
Right. She should have never identified him unless she was 100% sure it was him. Clearly she didn't get a good look at her attacker if she identified the wrong guy.
Have you read the article?
You can't be serious.
She WAS raped, that fact is without dispute. She was then given a lineup of suspects, first photo then in person, and picked out the person that looked like her attacker. Who she thought was her attacker. Tragedy then ensued.
That's a far, far cry from making up a false crime and accusing someone they know who is completely innocent of any wrong doing.
I'm going to guess you're someone who decries the overuse, by some, of labeling things rape that clearly are not. That it devalues the word and can severely hurt those it is used against.
Can't you see your doing the exact same thing to what you believe?
Well he doesn't believe a guy can get raped so.....
I'm not doubting she was raped.
My problem is that she falsely accused someone of committing the crime. She shouldn't have identified him as the attacker unless she was 100% sure. Clearly she didn't get a good look at him, given that she identified the wrong guy.
Someone should write a book on how some investigative techniques can cause false ID's and possible written from both side of it......if only
Your second and third paragraphs wouldn't and shouldn't apply to this case.