POLL: Duke Lacrosse Rape Hoax -- Should the False Accuser be Prosecuted and Jailed?

[WhipperSnapper]

The victims of "rogue prosecutor" Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong and the false accuser may have been exonerated and declared innocent, but the outrage continues.

Do you think that the woman who filed the false accusation should be prosecuted as vigorously as the victims were going to be prosecuted? Does real justice demand that she face the exact same punishment and legal penalty that the victims would have faced?

Aside from the victims and their families, another group of overlooked victims are the children of the false accuser; they're going to be raised by this woman! Would it be in their best interest if they were separated from her and placed in the custody of child protective services?

I'm very disappointed in North Carolina's criminal justice system and very disappointed that the prosecutors will not be prosecuting this woman for having filed a false accusation of rape, a crime that should be treated very, very seriously and as seriously as an accusation of rape itself. Nifong and the false accuser have gone a long way to diminish the credibility of real rape victims everywhere. They have also reduced the credibility of prosecutors in all criminal cases (which is a good thing, IMHO).

 

[Rainsford]

As far as I'm aware, filing a false police report is already a crime that carries some sort of punishment, and I think the woman should be prosecuted for that. To suggest some sort of "eye for an eye" punishment is silly, and totally against what our justice system is supposed to stand for.

By the way, is it just me or are people getting their panties in a suspiciously large bunch over this? Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of false accusations of any type, but there seems to be a "weird" overtone to this case that I wouldn't normally expect. Such as snarky poll options like "No, because women never lie about rape." Again, maybe it's just me, but you seem to be trying to make this into some sort of object lesson about how women (and BLACK women at that) are really just out to "get" white men.

Maybe it's just by imagination, and maybe everyone is just offended by the "rogue" prosecution (as they should be), but it seems like more than that.

 

[sisq0kidd]

Originally posted by: Rainsford
As far as I'm aware, filing a false police report is already a crime that carries some sort of punishment, and I think the woman should be prosecuted for that. To suggest some sort of "eye for an eye" punishment is silly, and totally against what our justice system is supposed to stand for.

By the way, is it just me or are people getting their panties in a suspiciously large bunch over this? Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of false accusations of any type, but there seems to be a "weird" overtone to this case that I wouldn't normally expect. Such as snarky poll options like "No, because women never lie about rape." Again, maybe it's just me, but you seem to be trying to make this into some sort of object lesson about how women (and BLACK women at that) are really just out to "get" white men.

Maybe it's just by imagination, and maybe everyone is just offended by the "rogue" prosecution (as they should be), but it seems like more than that.

:thumbsup: I can always count on you to be levelheaded about every situation.

I agree, there seems to be some element of this case that people latch onto and fight vigorously about. I would venture a guess that it's the whole White athlete, Black woman rather than your run-of-the-mill Black athlete, white woman case.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

It's not just me. As I mentioned in another thread, there are several reasons why so many people have attached themselves to this case. Some people, the blog hooligans, have even devoted a good portion of the past year to it. (Nifong called the victims "hooligans" in public, and thus the blogs have taken to proudly referring to themselves as "blog hooligans".)

Aside from those reasons, I believe that false accusation should be taken very, very seriously because of the massive amount of damage that it can do to the victim(s) of the false accusation. The damages are numerous--mental distress, bankruptcy, huge financial expenditures, the risk of long-term imprisonment and subsequent poverty, the destruction of personal and family relationships. For that reason I think that people who file false accusations should be prosecuted and that justice demands that they face the same penalty as their victims would have faced. So, if a man would be sentenced to 20 years without parole for the rape, then justice demands that the false accuser suffer the same punishment.

Here are some of the reasons why this case has garnered so much attention:

1. It shows that false accusations of sex crimes DO occur and that the police and prosecutors are willing to railroad people. Sadly, there are probably thousands of other cases based on maliciously false claims where the police and prosecutors have railroaded innocent people and sent them to jail. If you read the newspapers, about once a month there will be a story about a person on death row being proven innocent by DNA evidence. That our criminal justice system is severely flawed and that it routinely victimizes innocent people is a huge and very important issue for anyone who values freedom and justice.

2. It shows that women can and will destroy men's lives merely by making maliciously false accusations of rape, harrassment, child abuse, or molestation. It shows that false accusation of rape may, in fact, be very, very common. The mere verbal accusation without any further evidence could be enough to start a prosecution and, in this case, to create a media frenzy. Consequently, this case has gained the attention of the men's movement because it shows the amount of sex discrimination that males can face.

3. It exposed Marxist/Feminist/Leftist professors and commentators as being filled with hatred and bigotry. Many organizations, such as Duke's "Gang of 88" (professors who condemned the accused and signed a statement last year, early on in the case), the NAACP, various news reporters and commentators, and others now have egg on their face. The case shows that they are willing to demonize people merely because they are white males.

These are huge issues for many people, especially men who are concerned about men's rights and equal justice under the law. Also, the issue of people being wrongfully convicted and railroaded by a powerful and abusive government with practically unlimitted resources is paramount.

Such as snarky poll options like "No, because women never lie about rape."

The reason I included that is because the Feminists have been accused of making that very claim or something similar to it. Obviously, this case has proven to be a tremendous disappointment and embarrassment for them.

 

[tomywishbone]

No. She'll most likely end up a homeless crackhead with HIV, so I see no reason to make matters worse, or waste more taxpayer money.

 

[gclg2000]

Originally posted by: tomywishbone
No. She'll most likely end up a homeless crackhead with HIV, so I see no reason to make matters worse, or waste more taxpayer money.

Ding Ding Ding, we have the answer that should have been a choice.

 

[daveymark]

Originally posted by: tomywishbone
No. She'll most likely end up a homeless crackhead with HIV, so I see no reason to make matters worse, or waste more taxpayer money.

Jesse Jackson has said he would provide a scholarship to "take care" of her. Of course, this was before they found out she broke the law. it'll be interesting to see if jackson renegs.

 

[Kadarin]

Personally, I think Mike Nifong needs to spend some jail time over this.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: gclg2000

Originally posted by: tomywishbone
No. She'll most likely end up a homeless crackhead with HIV, so I see no reason to make matters worse, or waste more taxpayer money.

Ding Ding Ding, we have the answer that should have been a choice.

I just added it as an option to the first question. Good point, TomyWishbone.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Feminists and racist Black activists happy that Virginia Tech shootings kick the Duke case out of the headlines?

Does anyone think that the Feminists and racist Black activist (Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and the like) are privately celebrating the Virginia Tech shootings since this takes the case out of the news headlines? Would Duke's president Brodhead and the Gang of '88 celebrate? Are Nifong and the accuser celebrating? Are media pundits who have eggs on their faces happy about the shootings?

I know that it seems like a crude, trollish-like question, but in all seriousness, do you think that some of these people are (secretly and privately) happy to see the Duke case diminished in the public's consciousness by the Virginia Tech shootings? After all, if people were to become completely distracted by another subject, the entire scandal could disappear as though it had never occurred and maybe even Nifong would be off the hook.

(However, in Nifong's case, a couple U.S. cities would probably need to get nuked to distract the North Carolina state bar's disciplinary committee enough to keep from disbarring him, and perhaps even that would not be enough, but I bet Nifong would be thrilled if that happened.)

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper
It's not just me. (snipped)

Okay, you just highlighted everything Rainsford was talking about.

Nothing you said is why this woman should be prosecuted, though she should be.

 

[tomywishbone]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
Personally, I think Mike Nifong needs to spend some jail time over this.

Many people are hoping that he will be brought to justice.

Unfortunately there's nobody to prosecute him. Who's going to do it? A DA that may very well be in the exact same position as Nifong some day? I don't think so. Nifong will get his million dollar pension and fade away. He won't do 1 second behind bars.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: tomywishbone

Unfortunately there's nobody to prosecute him. Who's going to do it? A DA that may very well be in the exact same position as Nifong some day? I don't think so. Nifong will get his million dollar pension and fade away. He won't do 1 second behind bars.

You're probably right that he won't be criminally prosecuted, but it could happen. I don't think the fact that he was a DA would keep another North Carolina DA from prosecuting him if he was instructed to do so. Remember, this guy embarrassed district attorneys and prosecutors nationwide and especially in North Carolina. Heck, I'm pretty sure that even the state of North Carolina's Attorney General, Cooper, referred to him as a "rogue prosecutor", suggesting that he'd already turned against Nifong.

I thought Cooper's exoneration of the victims and condemnation of Nifong was almost unprecedented or at least extremely rare in American jurisprudence. I wonder what happened behind the scenes because Cooper, being the state's attorney general, is essentially a politician. Did public sentiment and public pressure build to the point where he had to come out and say what he did? Did he need an OK from the Governor first?

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Rainsford
As far as I'm aware, filing a false police report is already a crime that carries some sort of punishment, and I think the woman should be prosecuted for that. To suggest some sort of "eye for an eye" punishment is silly, and totally against what our justice system is supposed to stand for.

By the way, is it just me or are people getting their panties in a suspiciously large bunch over this? Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of false accusations of any type, but there seems to be a "weird" overtone to this case that I wouldn't normally expect. Such as snarky poll options like "No, because women never lie about rape." Again, maybe it's just me, but you seem to be trying to make this into some sort of object lesson about how women (and BLACK women at that) are really just out to "get" white men.

Maybe it's just by imagination, and maybe everyone is just offended by the "rogue" prosecution (as they should be), but it seems like more than that.

Abuse of power is abuse of power and I don't think anybody on either side of the fence can disagree with that. I don't condone not investigating any charge of sexual misconduct whatseover. What I do condone is justice as she is blind ya know.

We demand justice. We demand justice. A lesson needs to be learned here - don't try to dig gold where there is no gold. Her history should have tipped the prosecurtor off.

Justice ultimately lies with the prosecutor 1st and the accusor 2nd. But she had better pay, she needs a long jail sentance or at the very least 2-4 years in a mental institution. Her behavior and actions ARE NOT ACCEPTIBLE.

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Rainsford
As far as I'm aware, filing a false police report is already a crime that carries some sort of punishment, and I think the woman should be prosecuted for that. To suggest some sort of "eye for an eye" punishment is silly, and totally against what our justice system is supposed to stand for.

By the way, is it just me or are people getting their panties in a suspiciously large bunch over this? Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of false accusations of any type, but there seems to be a "weird" overtone to this case that I wouldn't normally expect. Such as snarky poll options like "No, because women never lie about rape." Again, maybe it's just me, but you seem to be trying to make this into some sort of object lesson about how women (and BLACK women at that) are really just out to "get" white men.

Maybe it's just by imagination, and maybe everyone is just offended by the "rogue" prosecution (as they should be), but it seems like more than that.

Abuse of power is abuse of power and I don't think anybody on either side of the fence can disagree with that. I don't condone not investigating any charge of sexual misconduct whatseover. What I do condone is justice as she is blind ya know.

We demand justice. We demand justice. A lesson needs to be learned here - don't try to dig gold where there is no gold. Her history should have tipped the prosecurtor off.

Justice ultimately lies with the prosecutor 1st and the accusor 2nd. But she had better pay, she needs a long jail sentance or at the very least 2-4 years in a mental institution. Her behavior and actions ARE NOT ACCEPTIBLE.

I didn't say they were acceptable, and I said in the very post you quoted that she should be prosecuted for making a false accusation. I'm just saying that this needs to be treated as an individual case, not an object lesson for anyone looking for some sort of bigger battle. The treatment of the case now is exactly the problem I had with it before, only now it's the "other side" making it into something it's not.

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper
It's not just me. As I mentioned in another thread, there are several reasons why so many people have attached themselves to this case. Some people, the blog hooligans, have even devoted a good portion of the past year to it. (Nifong called the victims "hooligans" in public, and thus the blogs have taken to proudly referring to themselves as "blog hooligans".)

Aside from those reasons, I believe that false accusation should be taken very, very seriously because of the massive amount of damage that it can do to the victim(s) of the false accusation. The damages are numerous--mental distress, bankruptcy, huge financial expenditures, the risk of long-term imprisonment and subsequent poverty, the destruction of personal and family relationships. For that reason I think that people who file false accusations should be prosecuted and that justice demands that they face the same penalty as their victims would have faced. So, if a man would be sentenced to 20 years without parole for the rape, then justice demands that the false accuser suffer the same punishment.

Here are some of the reasons why this case has garnered so much attention:

1. It shows that false accusations of sex crimes DO occur and that the police and prosecutors are willing to railroad people. Sadly, there are probably thousands of other cases based on maliciously false claims where the police and prosecutors have railroaded innocent people and sent them to jail. If you read the newspapers, about once a month there will be a story about a person on death row being proven innocent by DNA evidence. That our criminal justice system is severely flawed and that it routinely victimizes innocent people is a huge and very important issue for anyone who values freedom and justice.

2. It shows that women can and will destroy men's lives merely by making maliciously false accusations of rape, harrassment, child abuse, or molestation. It shows that false accusation of rape may, in fact, be very, very common. The mere verbal accusation without any further evidence could be enough to start a prosecution and, in this case, to create a media frenzy. Consequently, this case has gained the attention of the men's movement because it shows the amount of sex discrimination that males can face.

3. It exposed Marxist/Feminist/Leftist professors and commentators as being filled with hatred and bigotry. Many organizations, such as Duke's "Gang of 88" (professors who condemned the accused and signed a statement last year, early on in the case), the NAACP, various news reporters and commentators, and others now have egg on their face. The case shows that they are willing to demonize people merely because they are white males.

These are huge issues for many people, especially men who are concerned about men's rights and equal justice under the law. Also, the issue of people being wrongfully convicted and railroaded by a powerful and abusive government with practically unlimitted resources is paramount.

Such as snarky poll options like "No, because women never lie about rape."

The reason I included that is because the Feminists have been accused of making that very claim or something similar to it. Obviously, this case has proven to be a tremendous disappointment and embarrassment for them.

As 3chordcharlie said, that was EXACTLY what I was talking about. Instead of focusing on this particular case, it's just an excuse to push your silly political agenda. A more reasonable person might suggest you can't draw conclusions from a sample size of one, yet you're "lesson" from this case is that it shows how evil women are and how it's all a big conspiracy to get perfectly innocent white men. Oh yes, and don't forget those terrible feminists who are apparently less concerned with actual violence against women (and really, in light of this case, can we even be sure that actually exists at all?) and more concerned with sticking it to men.

I mean really, are you even reading what you're typing? I said I have a suspicion that the concern here isn't this one women falsely accusing these particular players, but rather a convenient target for anti-feminist anger, and you come out ranting like a complete lunatic. I never liked this case from the start because it seemed like a way for people to perpetuate the "evil sports star" stereotype, and now that the players have been found innocent, I find there has been another group waiting in the wings with equally irritating political bullshit.

 

[StageLeft]

No, because women are never wrong and if they are black they're not just never wrong, but also they are always right.

 

[dahunan]

Originally posted by: Rainsford

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Rainsford
As far as I'm aware, filing a false police report is already a crime that carries some sort of punishment, and I think the woman should be prosecuted for that. To suggest some sort of "eye for an eye" punishment is silly, and totally against what our justice system is supposed to stand for.

By the way, is it just me or are people getting their panties in a suspiciously large bunch over this? Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of false accusations of any type, but there seems to be a "weird" overtone to this case that I wouldn't normally expect. Such as snarky poll options like "No, because women never lie about rape." Again, maybe it's just me, but you seem to be trying to make this into some sort of object lesson about how women (and BLACK women at that) are really just out to "get" white men.

Maybe it's just by imagination, and maybe everyone is just offended by the "rogue" prosecution (as they should be), but it seems like more than that.

Abuse of power is abuse of power and I don't think anybody on either side of the fence can disagree with that. I don't condone not investigating any charge of sexual misconduct whatseover. What I do condone is justice as she is blind ya know.

We demand justice. We demand justice. A lesson needs to be learned here - don't try to dig gold where there is no gold. Her history should have tipped the prosecurtor off.

Justice ultimately lies with the prosecutor 1st and the accusor 2nd. But she had better pay, she needs a long jail sentance or at the very least 2-4 years in a mental institution. Her behavior and actions ARE NOT ACCEPTIBLE.

I didn't say they were acceptable, and I said in the very post you quoted that she should be prosecuted for making a false accusation. I'm just saying that this needs to be treated as an individual case, not an object lesson for anyone looking for some sort of bigger battle. The treatment of the case now is exactly the problem I had with it before, only now it's the "other side" making it into something it's not.

Falsely accuse you of shoplifting.. you get a false accusation that carries a penalty of .. what.. misdemeanor class C?

I falsely accuse you of running a red light.. you a false accusation that carries a penalty of what.. misdemeanor class C

I falsely accuse you of ****** my goats and your name is all over the papers and your children are taken from you and you are fired from your job etc.. etc..

I falsely accuse you of raping little children and you get murdered by vigilante justice..

I falsely accuse you of rape and you possibly get murdered by the FALSE victims family...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SO.. the question is.. in all the above cases .. should the penalty for false accusation be identical.. that is what you are advocating.. right?

 

[K1052]

Prosecuted, yes. Though I doubt it will ever come to pass and even if so the penalty won't be severe.

Nifong should get to shoulder the lion's share of the blame here. He manipulated the case to secure his re-election, illegally withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense, and abused his office in an attempt to convict the defendants in the court of public opinion via the press. In the end he did his damnedest to send kids to potentially long prison terms who he had good reason to believe were innocent of the charges with hard evidence to back such a conclusion.

Personally, I think he deserves a long stay at a state correctional facility he helped to fill.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Dahunan--I hadn't thought of all that before. Thank you very much for having pointed out that victims of false accusations could also be subjected to vigilante "justice".

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: K1052

Personally, I think he deserves a long stay at a state correctional facility he helped to fill.

I wonder where they would imprison him. He'd have to be held at a location where the inmates he'd prosecuted wouldn't torture him to death. I can just imagine an angry convict seeking revenge by making Nifong his biatch or prison wife. (Now that I think about it, that might be kind of funny.)

 

[HombrePequeno]

I think she should go to jail for false accusation. I wish it would put her away for a long time because what she did is extremely fvcked up. Not only did she horribly tarnish several people's image, she gave fuel to people who doubt rape claims (it seems WhipperSnapper might be one of those).

Our justice system doesn't work like that, however. They can sue her in a civil court but I doubt they'll get much out of that since she's probably flat broke. They might be able to get a decent chunk of change out of Nifong though.

 

[Aegeon]

Originally posted by: spidey07 But she had better pay, she needs a long jail sentance or at the very least 2-4 years in a mental institution. Her behavior and actions ARE NOT ACCEPTIBLE.

While I realize you're saying what you think should happen, you're missing a major element of how our justice system works. You have to KNOWINGLY file a false police report to be charged with a crime. If she was so nuts she honestly believed every word she was saying was true, she can't be convicted of anything. If she has a severe enough history of mental illness, it will be very tough to possibly prove in court beyond a reasonable doubt that she knowingly lied when making her statements.

What is supposed to happen is that a Prosecutor should note if an accuser has a history of serious mental illness and keep that carefully in mind when assessing her credibility.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: Aegeon
While I realize you're saying what you think should happen, you're missing a major element of how our justice system works. You have to KNOWINGLY file a false police report to be charged with a crime. If she was so nuts she honestly believed every word she was saying was true, she can't be convicted of anything. If she has a severe enough history of mental illness, it will be very tough to possibly prove in court beyond a reasonable doubt that she knowingly lied when making her statements.

What is supposed to happen is that a Prosecutor should note if an accuser has a history of serious mental illness and keep that carefully in mind when assessing her credibility.

Insane murderers are still prosecuted for murder and likewise she should be prosecuted for filing a false accusation. If she's insane, then that could be part of her defense, in which case she needs to be confined to a mental institution and her children should be removed from her custody.

 

[wiin]

Originally posted by: tomywishbone
No. She'll most likely end up a homeless crackhead with HIV, so I see no reason to make matters worse, or waste more taxpayer money.

So be it.

Sharpton seems to have a knack for aligning himself with liars. The Duke students should file a civil suit against the accuser, Sharpton, the prosecutor as well as some of the Duke Faculty members and Duke University.