In her Thursday letter "Helping young woman could prevent a rape," Holly Richard's "if they say they have been raped they have been raped" line of reasoning is faulty but, more importantly, it is dangerous to the foundation of the American justice system.

In her Thursday letter �Helping young woman could prevent a rape,� Holly Richard�s "if they say they have been raped they have been raped" line of reasoning is faulty but, more importantly, it is dangerous to the foundation of the American justice system.

It shows a lack of knowledge of the research on the subject. There are so many documented cases of false rape charges that the system is bogged down trying to deal with them all. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that �the number of false rape cases ranges in studies from 2 percent to 90 percent of reported rape cases,� depending on which study you read. (�False accusations bog down real rape cases,� April 10, 2011)

There can be numerous motivations for a false rape allegation. Charlie Rubenstein, former chief criminal prosecutor for Cincinnati, said that oftentimes a false allegation is made to cover being out late or a pregnancy. False allegations could be made to cover a consensual relationship that the accuser is afraid will ruin her reputation when it becomes public knowledge.

That line of thinking also tears at the very core of the American justice system. Our justice system is based on the principle that an accused person is innocent until proved guilty.

The media quickly jump on sexual-assault accusations. They plaster the picture of the accused on television and in the newspaper. And even if false rape allegations are only 8 to 10 percent of the total number of allegations, that means at least one out of every 10 allegations is false. Which means one person�s life is ruined, possibly accompanied by a long prison sentence.

Vicki Summers

Pataskala