Lizzie, please accept my apologies and you too Julie, I don't know why but felt a little down after reading Julie's comment, I now understand perfectly what she meant to say and all falls back to the fact that not believing the innocent person be it the victim or the culprit is a major problem of the legal system anywhere in the world today, once again my apologies, I didn't mean to offend or diminish Julie's problem.

No one is diminishing Julie's situation. If anything, she is the one diminishing. She says she was not believed, but a man went to prison. She may not have been believed enough to feel vindicated, perhaps, but she was believed.

Until you have been in both situations - as *I* have- you really can't say which is worse. I was molested as a cild, I watch the still on-going horror of my son's false accusation, and in my opinion, I suffered far less than he continues to.

BOTH circumstances are horrific, and NO ONE has the right to a free pass, as far as truth is concerned.

My son was put through extensive polygraph testing, as well as phychological testing. His accuser was not. She was protected, and 'believed' without question. Here in the states, 'Children don't lie'.

Don't know about where you are, but here in the states, even if he only was imprisoned 12 months (only!) a man will register for life. His wife and children will be publicly listed alongside him if they still live with him. He will be forced to undergo continued harassment and social outcasting the rest of his life. His ability to earn a living, or live where he wants is limited. Some idiot from Canada could show up at his doorstep any minute and murder him.

That, I believe, is worse than private pain.

I may be wrong, but I don't think false accusations of rape are regularly taken as blind truth here in Australia. Maybe some will have horror stories. However, a friend of my daughter claimed that she was raped by up to six men from an interstate football team.

My daughter was interviewed by police who said that they had doubts about her friend's story. After interviews with the young men accused, there was no evidence to support her claim. It came about that one of them had called her fat and so in her humiliation she wanted revenge.

I think the police can often recognise false claims. A middle aged friend of mine who had a "peculiar" girlfriend was advised by police to take out a restraining order because they can recognise potential trouble from women scorned.

I don't think that American cases are particularly useful in an Australian context. A recent case in the paper where a man tied up and raped a girl for hours and he got 3 years I think has outraged police. On the whole we have a fantastic police force.

One of the biggest problems that I can see about this whole thing is even if you are vindicated by law, that does not mean that the general public or even your own circle of friends or family will believe the truth. There will always be doubt in some people's minds and this is probably the saddest and most tragic outcome of being falsely accused of rape or not being believed that you have been raped.

One thing that I have to say to Onlyone - your son's innocence is what you have to hold onto and you should feel comforted and empowered by that. There is a lot of anger that is coming out in your posts and it should not be directed at people who's stories you do not consider are as bad as yours. As I said earlier in this thread it is a peculiar question that has been asked.

The point that Julie makes about the pain suffered by rape victims not being believed (as much as they feel they need to be believed) is valid but I don't see any way around that just as I don't see a way around an accused not being believed. Claims should be tested and challenged otherwise we have innocents going to jail or crimes going unpunished.

Historically we have also tried to err on the side of caution, taking a stance that it is better for some guilty individuals to go free than for the innocent to be wrongly convicted.

What Julie has to say does not take away from the validity of the plight of those falsly accused, both rape victims and those falsly accused can suffer terribly.

My impression is that any attempt to assume that one is always worse than the other is not valid. Each individual situation will be different.

One of the other issues is that all to often in an attempt to not muddy the waters we fail to differentiate between levels of offence in our discussions. A disagreement over the time it took for a sex act to stop (one extreme) is talked about almost in the same terms as someone dragged off the street and assaulted.

The point that the Australian situation is different to the US one rings a bit true for me (with some reservations), I've heard stories of the extremes here as well but have not seen much serious evidence. If that is the case it's worth understanding what happens in the US because we have followed their lead in a lot of other stuff.

Julie, please join in the discussion with suggestions about how you think our legal system can deal with the issues better. How do we protect the innocent (be they accuser or accused) and still provide justice? How can we minimise the unnecessary pain beyond the initial offense without creating greater injustice?

R0bert

"Is a false accusation of rape as bad as being raped" is the question at hand here, Lizzie.

You find me 'angry', and tell me not to direct it toward those posting here, but you have no problem with the person posting ALL IN CAPS declaring HER anger.

Believe me, Lizzie. I am every bit as angry about a false accusation as Julie is about being raped.

EVERY BIT.

Her anger is no more justified than mine.

Anyone who has had either experience has a right to be. The most frustrating thing is, however, those experincing rape feel they have the right to quash the fact that innocent people ARE falsely accused, and ARE being sent to prison wrongly. There seems a prevading attitude that the falsely accused must suffer in silence, or 'true victims' won't be believed.

That this is even a topic of discussion, rather than a 'given' is pretty telling.

Onlyone, I did not suggest with my comments that your anger is not justified. My comments were in regard to using you anger constructively instead on wasting it on someone who just wanted to put forward her opinion, which is what this forum is all about.

If you read towards the beginning of this thread, my comment in relation to the question being peculiar was because the initial comments made did not compare both sides of the question.

I will also reiterate that innocent people should be protected by law whether they are falsely accused or actual victims of rape. It is also necessary that society at large changes it attitudes to people who are proved innocent or who cannot be proved guilty because of lack of evidence. This last bit is an impossible call I think. Take note of Lindy Chamberlain.