Oregon Woman Convicted of Acting Insufficiently Traumatized
By Barry Deutsch of Portland. Barry is a freelance cartoonist and wedding coordinator. He blogs regularly at "Alas, a Blog."
A young Oregonian, who says she was gang-raped by three men, has been convicted of filing false rape charges by a Beaverton court, because she failed to act "traumatized" enough. From the Oregonian:
After a day-and-a-half trial, Municipal Judge Peter A. Ackerman on Friday convicted the woman of filing a false police report, a class-C misdemeanor. Ackerman explained his decision, saying there were many inconsistencies in the stories of the four, but that he found the young men to be more credible. He also said he relied on the testimony of a Beaverton police detective and the woman's friends who said she did not act traumatized in the days following the incident.
People familiar with the case have said that The Oregonian's coverage is accurate. If so, then this ruling is appalling.
The Judge seems to believe that there is a typical way in which all rape victims must behave, and women who fail to behave that way must be lying. But that's nonsense. There is no "rape victim script" that every single rape victim follows. In effect, the Judge's decision criminalizes failure to conform to stereotypes of how rape victims behave.
False accusation is a serious crime, and ought be punished. But not when the accused can't be proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. And the reasons Judge Ackerman found the defendant guilty - that the alleged rapists tell a different story, and that the defendant did not act traumatized enough - are far from enough to overcome reasonable doubt.
Furthermore, Judge Ackerman's decision could have a chilling effect on rape victims deciding whether or not to report their rapes to authorities. Rape is already an extremely unreported crime (according to Heather Huhtanen of the Attorney General's Sexual Assault Task Force, only 10% of Oregon rape victims report to police). How much lower will it be if rape victims worry that they could be sent to jail for not acting traumatized enough?
Judge Ackerman, City Attorney Alan Rappleyea, and assistant City Attorney Ted Naemura should all be ashamed of their behavior. Old-fashioned and frankly sexist stereotypes about how rape victims should behave, should not be any part of the reasoning for a guilty verdict.
Blogger Shakespeare's Sister has more information on this case.
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December 7, 2005 |
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Comments
Posted by: Antigone | Dec 7, 2005 4:51:39 PM
False accusation is a serious crime, and ought be punished. But not when the accused can't be proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
I don't really see how he's saying that no one should be prosecuted for filling a false police report. I think what he's saying is that it shouldn't be for every case for the raped victim to have to establish her own innocence to make a rape charge.
Posted by: C Woo | Dec 8, 2005 12:13:52 AM
While I'm not usually one to jump to conclusions, I feel compelled to point out that the District Attorney and Judge involved in the case will eventually have to run for re-election in order to keep their jobs . . .
Posted by: Jeff Alworth | Dec 8, 2005 9:44:57 AM
I'm happy to see Barry posted this piece--I'd seen the piece in the Oregonian, and had hoped to post on it myself. (For those of you wishing for more info, the Oregonian article is pretty extensive.)
For those of you who will remain blase to the plight of raped women, to say nothing of the woman in this case, ask yourself where the bigger instance of injustice is when your read this passage:
Kevin Neely, spokesman for the Oregon Attorney General's Office, said it was rare for alleged sex crime victims to be charged much less convicted of filing a false police report."Our concern is always with the underreporting of sexual assaults," he said, "not with false reporting. It's a safe bet that prosecutions for false reporting are rare...."
Huhtanen said about 10 percent of Oregon victims of sex crimes file reports with police.
A Portland Police Bureau study estimated that 3 percent of its rape cases were classified as unfounded, she said. Portland police, Huhtanen said, found that 1.6 percent of sexual assault cases were falsely reported, compared with 2.6 percent of auto theft reports.
Rape charges are extremely serious, and bringing them can damage the accused party's lives, whether or not they're found guilty. But the weight of history, with centuries of rape and the stigma it carries, the historic powerlessness of the victims, and the damage these allegations do to their own lives makes me think that we're very far from seeing this emerge as a huge problem. Why on earth a judge would do such a thing is incomprehensible.
Posted by: Bill Bodden | Dec 8, 2005 9:54:07 AM
It is difficult, based on the material above, to come to a conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt as to who is right or wrong in this case, but I recall a psychologist who worked with torture victims explain at a conference that these victims would exhibit behaviors when talking about their experiences that suggested they were not telling the truth when in fact they were. Women have lied in the past about being raped and in the South that often meant some black men were lynched, but in this case it is wrong to believe the woman guilty just because she didn't behave as people might have expected her to.
Posted by: Saltheart | Dec 12, 2005 2:38:55 AM
If a woman accuses a man of rape and it's proven that he did actually commit the rape, then he should spend most of his remaining years in jail. If a woman accuses a man of rape when no rape has been committed AND you can prove that she intentionally lied or filed the charges with malice, SHE should have to spend the exact same amount of time in jail, the man would have had to serve. If he would have gotten 20 years and her false statements convicted him, then SHE should serve 20 years. It's called equality and justice.
Once again, this is ONLY for those cases where it's proven that she intentionally falsified the report and she acted with malice when there was NO RAPE COMMITTED!
Posted by: Verlch | Jan 4, 2006 11:40:06 AM
80% of supposed rapes do not get a conviction. Of the other 20% I think the women are good actors. I think only 3% of reported rapes actually happened. 80% of rape convictions are she said testimony. No witnesses, no nothing.
What if the women has been brain washed by feminists and lesbians to believe all heterosexual sex is rape???
In the middle east for a rape convition you need a man as a witness. Juding by all the men getting out of prison because a women picked the wrong man in a police line up, it looks like any man will do.
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"Men who are unjustly accused of rape can sometimes gain from the experience." Vassar College. Assistant Dean of Students – Catherine Comin
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"The more famous and powerful I get the more power I have to hurt men." "Politi-cally, I call it rape whenever a woman has sex and feels violated. You might think thats too broad. I'm not talking about sending all of you men to jail for that." -- Catherine MacKinnon "A Rally Against Rape" Feminism Unmodified
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"And if the professional rapist is to be separated from the average dominant heterosexual (male), it may be mainly a quantitative difference." Rape: The All-American Crime - Susan Griffin
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"All sex, even consensual sex between a married couple, is an act of violence perpetrated against a woman." - Catherine MacKinnon
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"I claim that rape exists any time sexual intercourse occurs when it has not been initiated by the woman, out of her own genuine affection and desire." Ms. Magazine Editor. - Robin Morgan
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There is more, but it is clear to me, that the womens movement teachs women to be victims, and afraid of men. Did you know there is more lesbian on lesbian violence than male on female. Did you know women initiate violence against men 80% of the time? The man just inflicts more damage.
I would suggest you ladies investigate your movements before you believe that they are there for your benefit!!!
Posted by: Verlch | Jan 4, 2006 11:45:03 AM
Did you hear about the 30 second rapist? The women wanted the house her husband had, so she told cops he didn't stop having sex when she said, and sent him to jail for life.
Only later did a girlfriend come forward and say she admitted that all she wanted was the house. It still took 10 years to free the man.
Its clear women think on emotion and that should be grounds enough for a mistrial!!!
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Posted by: BlueNote | Dec 7, 2005 4:47:13 PM
This woman was convicted of the crime of filing a false police report following a trial that was (presumably) conducted pursuant to Oregon statutes and court rules. The trial judge heard the evidence and HE found the evidence sufficient to convict her under the "reasonable doubt" standard. All the judge was obligated to say at the end of the trial was "guilty" or "not guilty". His editorial comments regarding his decision were probably unwise but are legally irrelevent. Is it your position that as a matter of public policy, a woman making a rape accusation should never be prosecuted for filing a false police report? That seems like a dangerous precedent to me.