False rape accusations tell us something important about America

Summary: The changes in America are often easily seen in the news, if read analytically (rather than as entertainment). Read about the latest false accusation of rape to see not just a gripping story of injustice and eventual vindication — but also an important trend affecting America.  {2nd of 2 posts today.}

“I interviewed the victim twice, and I believed her.”
— District Attorney Denise Lunsford, explains why she ignored evidence showing that Mark Weiner was innocent (from Slate).

In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, an all-white jury convicts an innocent black man of raping a white woman in a small 1930s southern town, despite the efforts his lawyer who defies the town’s lynch-mob mentality and proves the victim’s story to be false. It’s a new century, a sequel has just come out — and we still have men being falsely convicted of rape despite the evidence.

The latest example is Mark Weiner, who on a rainy day gave a woman a ride to her home — a good deed ending in a sentence of eight years in jail for abducting a woman with the intent to sexually harm her. There was almost no evidence of his guilt, and considerable exculpatory evidence (some of which was not disclosed to his attorney). Of course, none of that matters to the true believers who increasingly run America. This happened in Charlottesville, home of the infamous fake rape publicized in last November’s Rolling Stone.

“During the sentencing phase of the hearing, {District Attorney} Lunsford reminded the court of previous incidents in which Weiner had made unwelcome advances to two women and called it a ‘pattern of behavior.'”
— “Unwelcome advances” are an indication of criminality when done by a beta male {source}.

For those who believe in the power of the media to limit governmental abuse of power, this story was covered in detail by journalist Lisa Provence (who deserves a career boost from this). As in this story about the Judge’s sentence of 20 years in prison (with 12 years suspended). That is quite impressive since the evidence showed his innocence. This week, after two and a half years in prison, a judge vacated his conviction.

For a summary of the case, see this article at Slate by Dahlia Lithwick. The story received desultory coverage from other news media, such as this from NBC. No wonder news media companies are laying off reporters and watching their profit evaporate, when they ignore such a hot story of injustice.

Not the kind of justice you see on TV in “CSI”

No analysis is complete unless it explains why the key actors felt their actions to be rational. It’s not difficult to see in this case. The DA believed that rape victims tell the truth, and that subjective reality trumps evidence.

“When a reporter asked Lunsford about criticism she’d received for not pursuing justice in this case, the prosecutor said, ‘Sometimes it comes down to, do you believe the victim? I believe her.'” {source}.

“Lunsford has said all along she believes the victim and she’s still not backing down.  Instead she says this case is a prime example of why the job’s so difficult:  ‘Sometimes, and often in these cases, it’s one person’s word against another so the decision of how to prosecute and whether to prosecute isn’t an easy one. I believed her in this case and that’s why I went forward with it.  I felt she was telling the truth and I felt it was a community safety issue.'” (From Slate)

After years of propaganda, it’s a belief often seen. Sophie Hess, general manager of the campus radio station WOBC, talks about the rape accusation made by actress, writer, director Lena Dunham: “Asking whether or not a victim is telling the truth is irrelevant,” Ms. Hess proclaimed. “It’s just not important if they are telling the truth” {source}.

From a broader perspective, it’s just another example of the tribalism that increasingly dominates America.

As Martin van Creveld predicted in The Rise and Decline of the State (1999). We shift our loyalty from the political regime — America — to new groups (e.g., gender, ideology). As always, we our highest loyalty defines our truth. This acts as clumps of metal in the machinery in the State, so that it no longer works well.

We’ve begun the next stage, as this dysfunctionality could encourage us to reform America — or continue shifting our loyalty away from America. Much depends on our choices in the years ahead.

A few high-profile false accusations of rape

1. The 1987 rape of Tawana Brawley by 3 men (including a police officer), uncritically accepted by journalists (ironically, Bill Cosby was an early supporter) – but fake.
2. Wanetta Gibson’s false rape accusation in 2002 put football star Brian Banks in prison for 5 years. She recanted in 2011. The verdict was overturned in 2012. Details here.
3. Journalists went into hysterics from Crystal Mangum’s accusations of rape by the Duke Lacrosse team in March 2006.  District Attorney Mike Nifong sought re-election through their prosecution. It all collapsed, eventually.
4. The 2009 rape of a Hofstra coed by five students; she recanted in a few days when questioned by the police.
5. Buzzfeed and others hyped the 13 October 2013 story of a sexual assault on an Ohio U coed. A Grand Jury found it quite false.
6. “UVA, Ferguson and Media Failure, op-ed at the WSJ by Bret Stephens: “Narratives and allegations are not facts, despite what the media would have us believe”. It points to “A Woman’s War” in the 18 March 2007 NYT Magazine, telling how Amorita Randall was raped twice while serving in the Navy, then told by her commander “not to make such a big deal about it.” The key supporting details proved false; the NYT had not allowed the Navy time to verify the facts before publication.
7. We might never know the truth, but the Columbia U “mattress girl’s” story fits the “believe the girl despite the evidence” script. See this early coverage, and this with more evidence.
8. If verified, this might go on the list: “Lena Dunham ‘Raped by a Republican’ Story in Bestseller Collapses Under Scrutiny“ at Breitbart, 4 December 2014. A follow-up reports that “Both Dunham and her publisher Random House have apologized to “Barry One”, offered to reimburse his legal expenses, and have agreed to edit future copies of Dunham’s memoir in a way that will ensure he is not misidentified as her rapist.”
9. Not just a US phenomenon: “Woman cried rape after man she had first date train sex with ran away at his stop“. The man was saved by Britain’s ever-present CCTVs.
10. “Here Are 8 Campus Rape Hoaxes Eerily Like The UVA Rape Story“ in the Daily Caller, 14 December 2014 – Some of these involve innocent men who falsely accused for political gain.
11. “German teen admits she lied about migrant gang rape” by UPI, 2 Feb 2016. Too bad about the riots in response to this false rape accusation.

Other articles and studies about false rape accusations

Slate has a well-written but superficial article with some sad stories: “Crying Rape” by Cathy Young — “False rape accusations exist, and they are a serious problem.” Here is a case in Britain of a woman making 4 different accusations of rape against a total of 25 men, two of whom spent years in jail.

See these articles by Francis Walker, rich with links and analysis. She takes a hard look at the soft foundation of the numbers about false rape accusations.

• Anatomy of a Scary Statistic
• Professor Twitter and the Problem of the Low False Rape Narrative
• What do we know about false rape allegations?
• Narrative in search of a statistic

See this from the Washington Examiner; the money paragraph, about conclusions of the not peer-reviewed “MAD Study” by End Violence Against Women International. It’s one of the 2 best known and relatively recent studies of US rape, although from an advocacy organization.

“From all of this one could determine that 15.6% of reports could reliably be determined as false, another 17.9% weren’t actually crimes and just 1.2% (or 2.2%) could be reliably determined as true. The remainder would fall into a “we’ll never know for sure” category. … And beyond all of this, none of this data can be applied to reports of campus sexual assault. There is no data available on the number of campus sexual assault accusations that turn out to be false, as it hasn’t been studied.”

See these for more information about false reports of rape.

1. “False Reports: Moving Beyond the Issue to Successfully Investigate and Prosecute Non-Stranger Sexual Assault“ by Dr. Kimberly A. Lonsway et al at the American Prosecutors Research Institute, 2009.
2. “How Often Do Women Falsely Cry Rape?“ by Emily Bazelon and Rachael Larimore in Slate, 1 October 2009 — “The question the Hofstra disaster left dangling.”

For a different spin on rape see “Today In Rape Apologia, Ayn Rand Edition” by Scott Lemieux (Asst Prof of Political Science at College of St. Rose) at Lawyers, Guns and Money. Ayn Rand is a feminist by many standards, yet the sex scenes in her books often glorify rape. That was considered normal in her day. Such scenes, albeit toned down, are still common in chick lit (Fifty Shades of Grey is the extreme example).

The tide changes on false rape accusations: update in May 2018.

False rape accusations were seldom investigated or prosecuted. The accusations that looks suspicious were ignored, or charges dropped upon investigation. That appear to be changing. Here are a few recent cases. “Always believe the woman” does not look rational.

• “Woman charged with filing false police report tied to alleged rape at Coker College” by WMBF NBC News. The guy is still suspended from college and banned from the campus.
• “False college rape case set for trial” by the Connecticut Post.
• “Stalker who tried to ‘destroy’ a care worker with false gang rape allegations ‘because she was left out of a trip to the zoo’ is jailed” at the Daily Mail.

Also, DNA is uncovering old false rape accusations: “Two men exonerated in 1991 rape claim.”

For More Information

If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about women & society, about rape, and especially these…

1. It’s time to forcibly re-shape America to fight the campus rape epidemic! Even if it’s fake.
2. The University of Virginia “rape culture” story crashes and burns. Will this become a story of failed agitprop? Or a win for the Left?
3. The University of Virginia shows how change comes to America: through agitprop and hysteria.
4. Forms to sign before having sex. Progress or madness?