False rape accusations are very rare

Only 0.0003 percent of rapes are false accusations that result in jail time, according to research done by Mona Chalabi, a journalist who writes for The Guardian newspaper. Read her narrative below and check out her graphic.

Tim

Central Minnesota Political

Have you been thinking about false accusations lately? If so, here are some important facts:

1. Since 1989 (when US records on this topic began) there are only 319 cases where men convicted of sexual assault were exonerated because it turned out they were falsely accused.

2. False rape accusations are rare. There are three decent studies on this topic (see below) - estimates range from 2.1% to 7.1% of the accusations that are reported being false (don’t forget, most rapes are never reported). For this graphic, I took the midpoint then followed the statistics through to make an estimate about whether individuals faced criminal consequences as a result of these allegations.

By Mona Chalabi

Sources: Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2010-2014 (2015); National Incident-Based Reporting System, 2012-2014 (2015); Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2009 (2013). Heenan, M., & Murray, S. (2006). Study of reported rapes in Victoria 2000-2003: Summary research report. Retrieved from the State of Victoria (Australia), Department of Human Services: Lonsway, K. A., Archambault, J., & Lisak, D. (2009). False reports: Moving beyond the issue to successfully investigate and prosecute non-stranger sexual assault. The Voice, 3(1), 1-11. National Registry of Exonerations

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