Quote Originally Posted by johnhughthom View Post
The problem with punishing this woman and saying she should be put in prison, is that it could act as a deterrent for other girls who have been raped to come forward. If a woman is raped and thinking about going to the police, reading about cases where a woman was charged with a false accusation and imprisoned could frighten them in to keeping quiet in fear, the rapist might even use such stories to try to ensure she doesn't come forward.

Some people will say that a genuine rape victim will have no risk of charges being brought against them, whether or not that is true, they are unlikely to be in a frame of mind to make such rational decisions at the time, a remote possibility could quite easily seem a certainty after such a traumatic experience.

Having said that, the idea of someone falsely accusing another of rape is something I find repulsive, it really does ruin the other person's life, purely out of spite. I would love to see such cases dealt with by malicious fake rape claims being given the same sentence the accused rapist would have received. Unfortunately, it's not that simple.
There's also the idea of women putting rape charges because they were dumped, never called again, felt ashamed in the morning, wanted money or publicity etc...

Man accused of rape end up in prison and have a stain for the rest of their lives, it's not a small matter. It needs to be shown that you can't be kidding with rape charges...