General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: (edited title) False allegations of rape and domestic violence are few and far between [View all]Savannahmann
(3,891 posts)With a conviction rate of 73%, that means that the juries found in 27% of the cases (100-73=27) that the charge was not proven beyond whatever level to convict the British standard of proof is. Now, that brings us to two possible conclusions.
A) The prosecutors are incredibly inept. That conclusion is reached only if the assumption is that all those cases prosecuted were actually rape/domestic violence in truth. If this is your conclusion, then one out of four prosecutions failed because of ineptitude, and the entire staff of the CPS must be fired for mind boggling incompetence.
B) The juries did not agree with the conclusions of the prosecutors because of extenuating circumstances or issues with the evidence presented. This is more likely. The purpose of the prosecutor is to present proof of the guilt, in an effort to convince a jury. The purpose of the defense is to present the other side of the story, to explain the evidence, or to offer an alternative version of events.
The end result is that the claim that one out of four cases is false would be asinine. But it would be easier to argue based upon the rate of conviction. By arguing that only .6% are false based upon the decision of the Prosecutors to take the case to court is equally false. I don't know how many are, I believe that each case should be decided by a jury, on it's own individual merits. I don't like statistics presented by the Government as proof of anything. My experience tells me that the government will find whatever answer they are looking for.
An example. The Governor of Ohio puts out a report every year, this January is the 5th annual report, on the problem of human trafficking and the forced sex trade in Ohio. http://www.examiner.com/article/ohio-human-trafficking-look-beneath-the-surface-a-conference-january-2014
Yes, you read that right, Ohio is apparently a bastion of forced human trafficking and the forced sex trade. I know, I was surprised too when I first heard of this problem. I thought it was Thailand, or some other nation with little or no enforcement, but apparently Ohio is the destination of choice for those who go on Vacations for kinky sex.
The CPS in this story attempted to show that they are weeding out false claims of rape, and examining every case for such claims, before they go to the court to prosecute. The problem is that the conviction statistics are awful if every single case was a clear cut and no doubt available case of Rape/Domestic abuse. The level of incompetence needed to lose one out of four such clear cut cases is astonishing. I mean, you have a hand full of cards, and you're holding a full house. You can't lose right? But somehow they did lose one case out of four.
The other thing to consider is this. Police always think that the accused is Guilty, that's their job. The Prosecutors always think much the same thing, that the accused is guilty. It's the job of the Jury to decide the case based upon it's merits. The only thing you can really take from these statistics, is that the Juries seem to be doing just that. They are not presuming guilt because the defendant is accused. Nor are they dismissing all claims of Rape out of hand. They are convicting those that are believed to be guilty, and finding the others Not Guilty. If anything, it shows that the Juries seem to have an open mind when the case is presented.