5 Years for False Rape Accusation

[Chestaan]

Woman, 26, Falsely Accused Soldier of Rape After he Rejected Her

And she was jailed for five years.

The question is, is this justified? On one hand I think that definitely in this case the woman deserved to be put in prison for five years, no doubt about it. This isn't a simple case of here mistakenly accusing someone of rape, she purposely set out to destroy this poor guys life. Beyond that I believe that there should absolutely be reprecussions for accusing someone of rape in order to exact revenge against them, as such actions need to be deterred. On the other hand rape is already one of the most underreported crimes and further disincentivizing reports is not a good thing. However, I think in this case it was fairly cut and dry that no rape had occurred and that the lady in question was fully aware of this. False rape accusations should only be punished if there is enough evidence to ensure that the person who reported the rape was doing it maliciously and knew that no such incident occurred.

[Risottia]

Seems fitting. I hope there's also monetary compensation coming for the victim.

[Hirota]

Not much debate here in my opinion. Since her guilt is beyond all reasonable doubt then this punishment clearly is justified. If she was framing him for murder there wouldn't be much doubt about it either. Perverting the Course of Justice carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, so she got a reasonably light sentence all things considered.

Fortunately, this particular case doesn't fall into the grey area where it is x's word against y and nobody can establish any degree of guilt beyond all reasonable doubt, which seems to be the case for a large number of rape accusations. That grey area is a cause for concern, but I tend to think of Blackstone's formulation as a decent (or rather the least worst) direction to go in both questions of if someone is trying to pervert the course of justice or if a rape took place.

And yeah, I agree this might put victims of rape coming forward, but in general law enforcement shouldn't use past experiences to judge present day events. Trust but verify is the best route to go as it still allows for a degree of reasonable scepticism.

[Gig em Aggies]

your op is confusing on one hand you say the woman deserved it for what she did then on the other hand you ask the question is it justified, acting like the 5 years was too much. Got to make your op clearer so people aren't confused.

[Chestaan]

your op is confusing on one hand you say the woman deserved it for what she did then on the other hand you ask the question is it justified, acting like the 5 years was too much. Got to make your op clearer so people aren't confused.

She deserved the sentence, but in a larger context this may deter victims of rape from coming forward. Taking all factors into account I think the sentence was correct.

[Petrasylvania]

They were also told she invented fake friend profiles and produced false correspondence hoping these would be accepted as supportive evidence of her false claims.

In the internet age, if you're going to create fake profiles, e-mails and IMs you better either have separate accounts that can't be linked together, or be state sponsored. Not only is she a liar, she's a fucking stupid liar.

[Chestaan]

They were also told she invented fake friend profiles and produced false correspondence hoping these would be accepted as supportive evidence of her false claims.

In the internet age, if you're going to create fake profiles, e-mails and IMs you better either have separate accounts that can't be linked together, or be state sponsored. Not only is she a liar, she's a fucking stupid liar.

Yeah that was one of the details that definitely stood out. This woman is just incredibly malicious and coldly and calculatingly planned how to ruin this poor man's life. She deserves everything she got.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Seems fitting. I hope there's also monetary compensation coming for the victim.

[Thermodolia]

Oh hell ya is it justified. In fact it should be more like 15 years not just 5.

Though all she is doing is going to make people less likely to believe the next rape accusation. Boy who cried wolf and all that

[Petrasylvania]

Oh hell ya is it justified. In fact it should be more like 15 years not just 5.

Though all she is doing is going to make people less likely to believe the next rape accusation. Boy who cried wolf and all that

So it would be ironic if she really was raped and nobody believed her?

[New Chalcedon]

Woman, 26, Falsely Accused Soldier of Rape After he Rejected Her

And she was jailed for five years.

The question is, is this justified? On one hand I think that definitely in this case the woman deserved to be put in prison for five years, no doubt about it. This isn't a simple case of here mistakenly accusing someone of rape, she purposely set out to destroy this poor guys life. Beyond that I believe that there should absolutely be reprecussions for accusing someone of rape in order to exact revenge against them, as such actions need to be deterred. On the other hand rape is already one of the most underreported crimes and further disincentivizing reports is not a good thing. However, I think in this case it was fairly cut and dry that no rape had occurred and that the lady in question was fully aware of this. False rape accusations should only be punished if there is enough evidence to ensure that the person who reported the rape was doing it maliciously and knew that no such incident occurred.

I'm glad the victim of the false rape accusation is getting justice. However, virtually all of the evidence indicates that rape is grossly underreported, as opposed to overreported. I hope that the judge is clear - very clear! - that the penalty is for knowingly making a false report (as well as the effort she apparently put into attempting to fake evidence to support it), as opposed to making a report which is inadvertently false (i.e., mis-identifies the perpetrator, reporting a situation that's just this side of "rape", etc. etc.).

[Hammer Britannia]

Great, scum people like her deserve to be locked up.

[Desmosthenes and Burke]

Personally, she could consider herself exceedingly luck the sentence was only five years. She accused and caused the man to be arrested more than once. His career has likely been irreversibly damaged, assuming he still has one. My general feeling is, especially in the UK, the law is already so biased in favour of female accusers (and is woefully unavailable to male accusers) that there needs to be some very strong signalling about abusing it.

[Trumptonium]

The sentence is too short. It should be equivalent to actual rape sentences. Accusing someone of rape carries the same societal and job effects as being released from prison as a sex offender. It ruins lives and even when cleared might not fix it.

[Galloism]

your op is confusing on one hand you say the woman deserved it for what she did then on the other hand you ask the question is it justified, acting like the 5 years was too much. Got to make your op clearer so people aren't confused.

She deserved the sentence, but in a larger context this may deter victims of rape from coming forward. Taking all factors into account I think the sentence was correct.

I'll be honest - I never understood this line of reasoning.

If someone gets prosecuted for insurance fraud, does it deter people from making legitimate claims to their insurance? Why or why not?