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RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
July1 toJuly 7

Featured Investigation

Women who make false rape allegations are not typically prosecuted in the United States, Australia, Canada and most of Europe. Sexual assault cases are commonly fraught with difficulties of discerning the truth, and prosecutors are loath to make women fear they might face legal jeopardy if their charges cannot be proven.

But Britain is taking a different approach. With an official estimate of 3 percent of rape charges "perceived to be malicious," and sensitive to the fact that a false accusation of rape can destroy a man's life, the country has prosecuted at least 200 women for lying about rape in the last decade.

The BuzzFeed News reporters describing this phenomenon - Katie J.M. Baker and Jane Bradley - are not neutral on the subject; their reporting stresses the mental health struggles and vulnerabilities that can lead women to make such charges. They focus on two troubled women who made false claims:

The men in Eleanor and Rhiannon's cases said the false claims destroyed their lives - and that the women deserved to be prosecuted. Alexander Economou told BuzzFeed News that Eleanor lied about him "as an act of revenge, because I rejected her." Paul Fensome, Rhiannon's ex-partner, told BuzzFeed that it is Rhiannon's own fault she landed in prison. "It started with a white lie, and it just snowballed," he said. "She could have stopped it at any time, but she let it roll, and let it roll, and let it roll until it was too late."

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Other Noteworthy Articles and Series

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