History of Feminism
Related: About this forumThe devil’s in the data: How rape culture shapes rape stats
Asking the wrong questions
Rape statistics gleaned from police reports and other self-report sources are biasedusually not politically or intentionally, but in the statistical sense. In addition to dramatically undercounting rape, they overrepresent some victims and underrepresent others. We just dont know which victims, or by how much.
One thing we do know: Despite an avalanche of media attention to every false claim of rape, the number of rape cases that go unreported dwarfsto the point of meaninglessnessthe number of false reports.
Lets take the example of the U.S.:
A conservative U.S. Department of Justice 2010 survey estimate suggests there were about 270,000 rapes in the country that year. Fewer than 85,000 were reported to police. And, according to one study aimed at rooting out false reports of rape, methodologically rigorous research finds that 2 to 8 percent of reports are false. Even if the number of false reports were as high as 10 percent, wed be talking about 8,500 false reports and 185,000 non-reports. Now think about the fact that rape is underreported on surveys as well as in police reports, and the pointlessness of complaining about false reports begins to emerge.
http://www.womenundersiegeproject.org/blog/entry/the-devils-in-the-data-how-rape-culture-shapes-rape-stats
lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)... but it's not "pointless" if one in twenty accusations (5%) are false - at least not pointless to the accused.
ismnotwasm
(41,995 posts)I caught that as well. Th author was using it as a statistical device, and it could have been better worded.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)FBI reports consistently put the number of "unfounded" rape accusations around 8%. The average rate of unfounded reports for Index crimes is 2%.[2] However, "unfounded" is not synonymous with false allegation.[3] Bruce Gross of the Forensic Examiner's says that:
This statistic is almost meaningless, as many of the jurisdictions from which the FBI collects data on crime use different definitions of, or criteria for, "unfounded." That is, a report of rape might be classified as unfounded (rather than as forcible rape) if the alleged victim did not try to fight off the suspect, if the alleged perpetrator did not use physical force or a weapon of some sort, if the alleged victim did not sustain any physical injuries, or if the alleged victim and the accused had a prior sexual relationship. Similarly, a report might be deemed unfounded if there is no physical evidence or too many inconsistencies between the accuser's statement and what evidence does exist. As such, although some unfounded cases of rape may be false or fabricated, not all unfounded cases are false.[4]
[edit]British Home Office study (2005)
A 2005 study, "A gap or a chasm? Attrition in reported rape cases" was the largest and most rigorous study to date commissioned by the British Home Office on UK rape crime, from the initial reporting of a rape through to legal prosecutions. The study was based on 2,643 sexual assault cases (Kelly, Lovett, and Regan, 2005). Of these, 8% were classified by the police department as false reports.[5]
The researchers noted that some of these classifications were based simply on the personal judgments of the police investigators and were made in violation of official criteria for establishing a false allegation. Closer analysis of this category applying the Home Office counting rules for establishing a false allegation and excluding cases where the application of the cases where confirmation of the designation was uncertain reduced the percentage of false reports to 3%. The researchers concluded that "one cannot take all police designations at face value" and that "[t]here is an over-estimation of the scale of false allegations by both police officers and prosecutors." Moreover, they added:
The interviews with police officers and complainants responses show that despite the focus on victim care, a culture of suspicion remains within the police, even amongst some of those who are specialists in rape investigations. There is also a tendency to conflate false allegations with retractions and withdrawals, as if in all such cases no sexual assault occurred. This reproduces an investigative culture in which elements that might permit a designation of a false complaint are emphasised (later sections reveal how this also feeds into withdrawals and designation of insufficient evidence), at the expense of a careful investigation, in which the evidence collected is evaluated.[6][7][8]
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)changing the question takes it from 14k to 140k. and the fbi has it at 459.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)seabeyond
(110,159 posts)i really appreciated the comments about war rape.
ismnotwasm
(41,995 posts)I was looking for a good article and while this is decent i found it just a bit hard to read, as she goes from topic to topic. I reread it and it was much clearer
But here is the bottom line we've been looking for; rape statistics are NOT accurate because of the way they are processed.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)irrelevant. but over the last couple years, the men that generally dismiss womens issues and are imo sexist, are the ones that continually throw out the number that rape is down so why are you women talking about it. as if there is no longer a problem. it is being used as a weapon/tool against women.
logic and common sense does not have to be a factor. here are the numbers, now stfu. which seems to be the precedent on most all womens issues we face today.
then throw in a nation of uninformed and how we are all over the rights ass for being stupid, i have to say.... what about buying into this for agenda sake. is there a difference? cause i am not seeing it.
ismnotwasm
(41,995 posts)You'd start to think there was no rape at all, right? It's a systematic way to keep rape under the radar, which is part of maintaining male privilege. The vast majority of men DO NOT rape, but they do benefit from rape culture.
I do agree with Jeff that the article should not have dismissed the effects of false rape accusations of those so accused.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)get in his way to shut down conversation with that number. and here he is addressing a very small part of the article, ignoring all other, to talk about those that are falsely accused.
when reality is, we pretty much know that the cops start from the premise of false accusations as does the system and juries, which victimizes rape victims again.
2-3% IS a low number. is it tough on every man falsely accused? hell ya. but it is a low number.
it is right in par with every other crime with false accusations. we do not hear people continually and only bring that up when discussing the crime. rape is unique in that.
to make this article about the small part of false accusation really says something to me. and as you say, this article jumped around. it is a big subject. it got piece in all kinds of parts of the issue. touch base. but, did not go far enough on any one issue.
ismnotwasm
(41,995 posts)Once you mix false accusations, a low number, with the numbers of sexual assault, a very high number, it confuses and interferes with the dialogue. They shouldn't be discussed together, and when I think about it, that was probably the authors point.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)the conversation when discussing rape.
mere derailment of discussion
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)ismnotwasm
(41,995 posts)I see why, what a mess.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)redqueen
(115,103 posts)there are none so blind as those who will not see.