Reply #150: As a former rape victim, I resent this line of thinking.

[demgurl]

Before the truth came out I posted defending both sides. I stated that if she was lying that this now will make it harder for women who were really raped to come come forward. I also stated that if the team did what they were accused of then the book should be thrown at them but until it is proven we should not act in haste saying they are guilty.

Both sides told contradictory stories and we all knew that one side had to be lying. Instead of waiting for the eventual outcome, most of us sat in judgment of one side or the other. This type of fervor is what drives people like Nifong. To be sure, what Nifong did is inexcusable. This does not let the woman off the hook.

When the 'victim' lied, she did so much more than she may have realized. Nifong may have encouraged her but she could have retracted her statement the next day...or at any time for that matter. Do you know one of the effects of this case? I always secretly believed I would be blamed as the rape victim and this is why I did not go to the police the first time I was raped. My inner suspicions were confirmed when I saw the threads here at DU. Everything confirmed that I would be looked at, automatically, as if I was lying. People would doubt me and I would be made to feel as if I were to blame. This case confirmed I did the right thing when I was raped and that I would do the exact same thing again.

This woman has single handedly set back rape victims and their willingness to come forward and put rapists in jail.

What this woman did was an affront to our justice system. I do not want her in jail. No, instead I would like her to serve TEN years of probation doing community service at rape shelters. I want her to see what true victims go through and how they are scared to come forward because of people like her. She needs to see the hell they go through and then do penance for her part in the whole fiasco.

If people can not understand the underlying damage that has been done then I can not explain it here. Let us not forget that Nifong could never have placed any charges in the first place with this woman. Without her nothing else would have followed.