By THE WASHINGTON TIMES – – Tuesday, November 6, 2018

I watched most of the broadcast hearings on the nomination of now Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh. I was concerned about the vicious and absolutist blanket demands by one party and their “True Believer” adherents that all Americans “believe the survivor” (“Another Kavanaugh accuser admits to fabricating rape story,” Web, Nov. 3). Their goal was to destroy the life and livelihood of Justice Kavanaugh and keep him off of the U.S. Supreme Court.

In order to move forward, the nation must face the reality of high levels of false accusations of sexual misconduct. While the adherents of the believe-the-survivor mentality cite fraudulent rates of false accusations (in the 2 percent to 8 percent range) the empirical reality is quite different.

A summary of the false abuse-and-rape allegation literature can be found in “When Women Sexually Abuse Men” by Phillip Cook and Tammy Hodo. While statistics in the false-allegation literature vary, Mr. Cook and Ms. Hodo report four studies that found false allegation rates of 62 percent, 41 percent, 50 percent and 60 percent.

It is time for all Americans to become “woke” to the injustices of false allegations of sexual misconduct, end trial by media and return the adjudication of sexual misconduct to its proper venue: The courts.

GORDON E. FINLEY

Professor of Psychology Emeritus

Florida International University

Miami