1894 complaints of rape and sexual assault were filed to police of the state of Bavaria in 2000. The consensus estimate of all responsible officials is that way over 50% of accusations are false. Even when accusations are very dubious, police still file rape/sexual assault proceedings with prosecutors. Only in 7.4% of the complaints (1 in 13, N= 140) they propose legal action against the accuser for evidently false accusations, when there is clear proof or confession. The results of this meticulous 320 page research about rape and sexual assault in Bavaria replicate a less rigorous study in Schleswig Holstein state in 1994/1995, where 7.6% of complaints led to filing of false police report.

The following 320 page study analyses police inquiries of rape and sexual assault, and how police forwards these cases to prosecutors. It is based on all 1894 such complaints in the state of Bavaria/Germany in the year 2000. It deserves to be translated into English in its entirety.

Police officials agree that way over 50% of accusations are false

Even highly dubious and unlikely accusations will be forwarded to prosecutors for rape/ sexual assault prosecution, and not for prosecution for false accusations. This is why statistics show such low numbers for false rape accusations.

Only 7.4% of accusers are recommended for prosecution as false accusations (due to clear evidence or confessions)

64% of rape/sexual assault cases dropped by prosecution for lack of evidence are considered false accusations by the police official in charge of the initial complaint

Thus 1/5 to 1/3 of all cases were identified as patently false accusations, by the responsible police officials.

Human-Stupidity concludes that false rape is under-reported at least 7-fold

Rape and sexual assault in Bavaria | PDF

Munich 2005

ISBN 3-924400-16-4

6) Faking of or false suspicion of rape or sexual assault In 2000, among all events, that initially appeared to police to be a cases of rape or sexual assault, only 7.4% were were registered as faking of a crime or false suspicion. In almost all of these cases there is strong evidence of these crimes [of falsehood]. Cases that remain doubtful and unclear after police inquiry will be handed to prosecutors as accusations of rape or sexual assault. (p. 176) Police rarely send prosecutors accusations for false rape or sexual assault. This seems in stark contradiction to the [high] frequency estimates (by officials and police responsible for sexual crimes) of such false accusations . These [officials] estimate that such crimes have a very high occurrence, but don’t have statistical research data collections to back up such estimates. One department chief maintains: "All officials dealing with sexual crimes are in agreement, that way over half the sex crimes reported to police are fake. Many such accusations cause an assumption of a sham or false accusation. But proof is not strong enough to prosecute [the accuser]. (p. 177)

The authors explain, that even in cases where there are very strong doubts about the truthfulness of the accusations, police will only file an accusation of rape or sexual assault, and not one of false accusations. This is why the statistics seem to contradict the above "over half" false accusation statement.

Let this sink in. There are clearly more false accusations then there are true accusations. Police authorities from the Christian conservative state of Bavaria/Germany agree that most rape/sexual assault accusations are false!

The report makes clear that proof of false accusations is very difficult, absent a confession of the alleged victim. In all these cases, there will be prosecution for rape/sexual assault and not for false accusations, even if there is significant doubt as to the veracity of the accusations.

While the serious psychological and social consequences of rape and sexual assault have been the subject of various investigations, knowledge about the impact on the falsely accused is lacking. The data for our project do not permit us to arrive at definite empirical conclusions. […] When accusations are dropped due to lack of corroborative evidence and witnesses, then, in spite of very significant doubts about the crime description by the alleged victim […] there always remains a residual suspicion because the accused can not totally disprove the accusation. (p. 180) […] adding 1754 cases recorded as rape or sexual assault for the year 2000, and 140 false accusations, yields 1894 transactions which the police initially considered rape or sexual assault. Only 7.4% resulted in charges of false accusations of rape or sexual assault. [… results in the state of Bavaria] correspond exactly to the results of a survey (without scientific rigor) in the state of Schleswig Holstein. For the years 1994/1995 it showed a 7.6% rate of shams and false accusations demonstrated "beyond reasonable doubt". (p. 182)

There is a 1 in 13 rate of obvious false accusations. (7/4%)

The authors speculate that under the assumption of a 3 to 10 fold under-reporting of rape, that would result in a 1 in 38 (3 fold under-reporting) or one in 125 (10 fold under-reporting). On the other hand, some of the cases passed to courts as rape or sexual assault end with a conviction for false accusations.

Human-Stupidity comment:

False accusations of rape/sexual assault are under-reported 7-fold

The above conclusions are false.

First there is no scientific basis to assume 3 to 10 fold under-reporting of rape don’t forget, that police experts only report 7.4% false rapes in spite of strongly suspecting false accusations in way over 50% of the accusations. As mentioned, if in doubt, police file only for rape/sexual assault, even if they are convinced the complaint is false.

So there is an over 7 fold under-reporting of false rape accusations by police! (7 * 7.4% = 51.8%, which is less then "way over 50%"). Police do file rape accusations with prosecutors, even if they clearly believe the rape has not happened. And police do not file a false rape accusation, even when they are convinced that such a crime has happened. Probably they should file BOTH rape and false rape accusations at the same time!?

Clearly false rape is an under-reported crime. We need to encourage the victims of false rape accusations to come forward and counter-sue. As quoted in the report, it is the consensus that there are more false accusations then true accusations. Men’s Right activists can learn from feminists. They can demand the same treatment for alleged victims of false rape accusations as feminists have demanded and gotten for alleged rape victims.

No victim-blaming Anonymity for the allegedly falsely accused False rape is very hard to prove, even harder then rape. Even when reported, conviction rates are very low. So it is more then right to remove due process rights for alleged false rape accusers to assure higher conviction rates, the same way due process is being denied to those accused of rape.

False accusations and rumor mongering without police and court involvement

In addition to women who falsely report rape and sexual assault to police, there are women who spread false rape rumors outside the realm of police inquiries. These do not get reported, adding further to under-reporting of false rape accusations. Men are afraid to come forward and to report slanderous rumors of false rape. They should be encouraged to come forward and report such crimes!

Analysis of accusations of false rape / sexual assault

Back to the report. Researchers go through all data with Germanic meticulousness: age, education, psychological problems, social status, life history, motivation, of accuser and accused. Alleged verbal and physical resistance, frequency and type of self-afflicted injury (very rare). This meticulous report deserves to be fully translated into English. It is a treasure trove about all aspects of rape, true and false accusations.

An analysis of the false accusation shows that 67.1% (N=94) of complaints are filed by the alleged victim, and only a minority (N= 40) files without influence of third parties. Often the alleged victimized had lied to relatives, parents, friends about rape/ sexual assault and had no intention to involve police, "The alleged victim, who had no intention to deal with police, felt cornered and compelled to file a complaint due to the false stories they had told".

Even in non-sexual crime inquiries, occasional false accusations happened. "Often this was an attempt to reduce one’s own guilt with self-protective claims, or to increase the gravity of [non-sexual] accusations against others". (p. 183)

Cases forwarded for prosecution and later dropped for lack of evidence were re-analyzed by the initial police case workers. This yielded a rate of 64% of such cases judged to likely or very likely be false accusations.

Among cases that were dropped by prosecutors (for lack of evidence), 64% were judged to be likely, or very likely, false accusations, in the opinion of the police officials that initially processed the case. Adding these cases to the 7.4 % of obviously false cases, at last one fifth to one third of all cases are quite dubious [and probably false] (p. 182?).

Motivation for false accusations (p. 187)

Conflicts / problems in family or partnership (N=29) 20.7%

Hiding sexual relationship (18) 12.9%

Puberty crises cover / first sexual experiences (15) 10.7%

attracting compassion and attention (N=16) 11.4%

Justification for misconduct N=14) 10.0%

Shame / embarrassment (N=5) 3.6%

Fear of pregnancy (2) 1.4%

Counter-sueing / Revenge (N=7) 7 5.0%

Cerebral organical Disturbance. / Alcoholism /Drug dependency/ Psy Disease. (31) 22.1%

Motive not discernible (3) 2.1%

Total 140 100%

Each of these motivations is described in great detail and with examples (pp. 187-212). The false accusers tend to be quite young, and have a low educational level (p. 212). 80% have elementary school or less. 30 % are jobless, with no profession, 30% students or apprentices, 10% house wives. (graph 44, p. 215).

Traumatic life situations of false accusers

The study differentiated 4 types of traumatic stress situations. It turned out that among the false accusers, only 20% suffered none, 43% one, and 35% two to four of these stress situations.

family trouble , like violence, sexual abuse, neglect, foster homes, alcoholics in the family, change of important family relationships, dysfunctional family psychological problems : psychiatric treatment, drug, alcohol dependency, alcoholism other problems like runaways, suicide attempts, prostitution, more then one police registration for past crimes.

Overall, the data shows that those accused of false accusations are, in their majority, people of low social Status that suffer from significant social and psychological problems. (p. 217)

And so are most of the victims (alleged rapists) of such false accusations.

False accusations against members of higher social classes are exceedingly rare. Among the cases analyzed, it was extremely rare that women with a normal, "orderly" life (without psychological or social abnormalities) would plan false accusations – to take revenge on a man, to gain financial or other benefits. (p. 265)

Human-Stupidity analysis:

We believe that these conclusions are mistaken, due to sampling bias. (This is just a hunch, we have not analyzed data to prove this).

Over 50% are suspected to have made false accusations. Those 7.4% that get caught red-handed, that are too stupid to lie efficiently, dumb enough to provide proof of their crime, those are probably the less sophisticated, less intelligent, less mentally stable accusers. An intelligent and mentally stable woman can concoct an accusation that may be highly dubious but can not be disproven beyond reasonable doubt (Jörg Kachelmann rape case)

Policemen and Scientists agree:

Women frequently lie about rape accusations (German) During weeks, the Newspaper "Die Welt" summarized the the status of the Jörg Kachelmann rape case: the alleged victim lied not only to the prosecution, but to the police, her own lawyer, and her psychotherapist, too. "If an accused invented lies in such a way, maintained them and did that with such care", declared Kachelmann’s defending attorney Andrea Combé last week in her final statement, "one would talk about ‘profoundly criminal mind-set’". And her colleague Johann Schwenn added: Such a trial must not simply end with a not-guilty verdict. Nobody should be allowed to falsely accuse someone of rape, without needing to fear consequences. (translated from German)

In pages 217ff there are dozens of case descriptions and other interesting statistical analyses about false accusers and victims (yes, this report calls the falsely accused "victims").

Table 40 (p. 259) shows that most false accusers get away with small fines, or dropped charges. Reasons for dropping charges often were low culpability or residual doubt.

possible hallucinations, imaginations

drunkenness that might have clouded perceptions

psychological problems of the false accuser reduce culpability

in spite of clear contradictions and false statements, it could not totally be disproven that the alleged act never happened

Links

Studie "Vergewaltigung und sexuelle Nötigung in Bayern" Study: Rape and sexual assault in Bavaria.

Das privilegierte Geschlecht (The privileged gender) | Focus

Kriminalisierung des Mannes unter Ausschluss der Öffentlichkeit | Antifeminismus Weltweit

Related