Changes to rape laws

[bananaking21]

monocle_layton said:

bananaking21 said:
"2. Harsh sentences for blatantly false accusations. Someone falls into a gray boundary? The charges should simply be cleared. A person deliberately lies? They should be given a fine and jail time that would have been placed on the accused."


in a perfect world this would be a good thing. but we arent in a perfect world, and i feel that this would go ahead and discourage people who suffered sexual abuse to come out and talk about their bad experiences.

But why?

 

Lets say person X is raped by Y. If my idea was implemented and it was proven to not be rape, then it would simply be tossed out. An example might be where both parties got extremely wasted and be considered legal (albeit slightly immoral) intercourse

now if the person simply lies and has evidence proving they had intention to do so, then they’d be given a punishment. Otherwise, I believe this makes rape a more serious subject where people don’t automatically judge the accuser or accused

lets say X is raped by Y, but there isnt hard enough evidence to make the claim. maybe its a situation where its his word against hers, and he might have some people lie about an alibi. then out of fear of receiving jail time and Y trying to push for it. X would remain silent. this would also have people who are assaulted by someone who is an influential figure, politician, or famous person be much more reluctant to speak up. imagine if it happened with a police officer? how tough would it be to speak up when you know doing so will have the entire police force at your back, and could possibly forge evidence against you? 

 

Edit: it can also be used by the attacker as leverage against the victim. just imagine after an assault if the attacker says "if you ever say anything about this, ill deny the whole damn thing and make them throw your ass in jail!". how reluctant would a sexually assault victim be to speak up then?