Should men who are accused then cleared of rape charges be able to file for damages?

[75th]

Christopher Lynn Matthew, a Charlottesville barber, was arrested as he walked home one evening. As he was held in custody handcuffed at a police car, a 23-year-old sexual assault victim told police that he was the man that had assaulted her.

After being held for five days, and after media reports broadcast his name and picture, and speculated on whether he was the serial rapist that had been terrorizing the area, his DNA test results came back. Those tests cleared him and implicated another man.

Now Matthew has filed an $850,000 defamation lawsuit against his accuser, claiming that she acted recklessly when she told police he was the man that had raped her.

University of Virginia professor Anne M. Coughlin, who specializes in women's issues, is not in favor of the lawsuit. Says she: "Rape is the most underreported crime in the nation and women are already very reluctant to complain. If it became standard for men to file these lawsuits, that could certainly put a chilling effect on the victims."

What say you? The professor does indeed make a good point about women neglecting to report such crimes. However, even an accusation of rape is not something the accused can just walk away from, even if he is found innocent beyond a reasonable doubt.

Should men be able to...or even encouraged to file lawsuits against women who wrongly accuse them of rape?

 

[EnderJE]

Yes. Had a friend in med school ruined because of a false charge.

 

[swole]

Re: Should men who are accused then cleared of rape charges be able to file for damag

Yes. Women's fear of reporting the crime does not make it OK to point the finger at the closest male in the room.

A man's reputation and career can be RUINED by wrongful charges. They should spend as much time and energy into clearing his name as they did trying to accuse him.

 

[Mavafanculo]

The falsely accused man should get to bang the accuser. he paid for it with his reputation, he earned it.

 

[swole]

Re: Should men who are accused then cleared of rape charges be able to file for damag

The falsely accused man should get to bang the accuser. he paid for it with his reputation, he earned it.

only in a perfect world my friend

 

[velvett]

Yes.

 

[redshirt27se]

fuckin yes.

you're reputation is destroyed even if you are cleared. have fun getting a job in your area after your face and name are plastered all over the news as a rapist. and how much press do you think he got when he was cleared?

half the people in his city probably dont even know he was cleared of the charges, they just think rapist.

 

[DannoMight]

Yes and he should be compensated for his troubles and lost time at a job or a lost job/career. And the accuser should make a public apology.

 

[GoldenDelicious]

hell yes

if that professor is concerned about the "chilling effect" on genuine rape victims, then other measures (public education programs on rape etc etc) should be used to break down barriers and create a "warming effect". falsely accusing someone of something like that is about as vile as rape itself

 

[Mavafanculo]

and rape shield laws need to be re-examined. in the case of kobe bryan and other hi-profile cases good attorneys can get in neccessary evidence, but for an average shlub, especially in a liberal state like NY, good luck with that. in some cases they dont even allow in that the accusser falsely accused others of rape.