<p>My guess is that there was significant pressure put on the men in their interrogations and all of them coming up with the same story under pressure is highly unlikely for college students. It sounds like they didn’t lawyer up immediately and spoke to the investigators and that they then went back to question the accuser.</p>
<p>False rape accusation research is all over the place on the numbers. Some say that it’s 6%, some say that it’s 50%. Women that falsely accuse probably don’t realize the amount of damage done with a false accusation.</p>
<p>It strike me the real issue is whether this woman should be prosecuted for filing a false claim. </p>
<p>At some level, I suppose, one could have some sympathy for this woman and poor judgment it appears she exercised, but nothing hurts the cause of preventing violence and assault against women than the filing of a false claim. </p>
<p>The Duke lacrosse hoaxer was not prosecuted because of a perception that she had mental problems, the pain it would have caused the urban community, and due to the kind impulses of the lacrosse families (people demonized by Duke professors), a concern that this young mother/prostitute would be disconnected from her children. She frankly was very fortunate. But her actions caused harm, as indeed was demonstrated when a young woman from Duke was actually raped at about the same time, and a Duke dean (Larry Moneta) actually blamed the young woman because of her impulse towards experimentation. The rapist was convicted for his crime, and indeed, he was out on bail at the time of the crime for another sexual assualt. </p>
<p>Always a mom - no doubt you are 100% correct that this behavior is harmful for all parties involved. But the legal aspect is significant here - I think she needs to face charges.</p>
<p>alwaysamom–I totally agree with you. I would be (almost) as hearbroken if my son engaged in such behavior–taking advantage of a girl who likely had issues of some sort.</p>
<p>I gave my son a speech when he left for college: girls may not always act like ladies, but always act like a gentleman.</p>
<p>If there was an inkling from the start that this claim was not legit, the University may have waited to notify, hoping the true facts would come out sooner than they did.</p>
<p>I think this case is disturbing on many levels. </p>
<p>Like AlwaysAMom, I am not a prude. I don’t even think the issue that much is the multiple partners, but in this case, it appears that all five men were strangers to her at the beginning of the evening (four of them do not even attend Hofstra). While she may have consented, it is possible to perceive it as being taken advantage of (more of them than her) and I have to assume alcohol was involved (they met at a party). In the realm of possibilities, she may have consented but regretted it later (when more sober, etc). In any case, it is not safe sex physically, and not behavior one would think as positive for young people who are engaging in such acts with those they have no existing relationship with. </p>
<p>It is also disturbing for young men to be falsely accused and to have their names publicly tarnished (the Duke case is the epitome of that). If the accuser broke the law in wrongly accusing others, she should face legal consequences and her name should not be protected. The young men’s names were not protected here.</p>
<p>However, I have mixed feelings about what went down here. It is common for a woman who has claimed rape to later retract the claim. And we don’t know why she made the claim, nor why she recanted. There are various possibilities. For instance, if it was consensual, why did she call police to report that? That seems odd to me (the only exception I can think of was regret that she really wish she had not done what she did OR she was mad at them and wanted revenge of sorts). But there is also the possibility that she was raped and recanted and didn’t want to have to relive it and prosecute these guys. This is something that happens a lot. It is hard to fully understand what really happened. </p>
<p>Needless to say, all these young people were affected a great deal and so was the entire campus community.</p>
<p>What bother me is the fact the the university (and other ones) allows so many strangers to be on campus overnight. You are in college to expereince something new. If you miss your buddies so much, then go home for a week-end. I do not agreed with this policy of visitation.</p>
<p>It seems to me that there would be physical evidence given her original account.</p>
<p>In the Duke Lacrosse case, the accuser’s story kept changing to fit the new physical evidence that came out. A pretty good sign that the original story wasn’t true.</p>
<p>As a mom of both sexes, I can see it from both sides, but in the end of the day. I would be more disappointed in out DD for filing a false accusation than the sex aspect.</p>
<p>Here’s why…she made a stupid, stupid decision, but everytime a woman makes an accusation like this, it puts true rape cases in jeopardy. The fact is women do not come forward in fear that they will not be believed hurts. False accusations like this, Duke and Tawana Brawley sets women back. </p>
<p>I have always been honest and up front with our children (age appropriate). When DS left for college, I told him anytime you have sex, remember she is someone’s daughter or sister. If you would be willing to attack a guy for hurting your sister in an action that you are doing, (i.e…one night stand with I’ll call you tomorrow line) than don’t do it, because you are no better than that guy!</p>
<p>I have also told our DD, everytime you get in bed with a guy, you will be getting in bed with every girl he ever slept with. Creeped her out, but she got the point. I went onto say, we wouldn’t be happy if you got pregnant, but we would be there. However, we would never be happy again if we lost you to AIDs.</p>
<p>I lived in NC (50 miles outside of Durham). Nobody on day one believed in the case except Nifong.</p>
<p>The reason I stated earlier her name should be released is because of what one Duke player said. He stated in 15-20 yrs from now my children will google my name and I will have to explain it. I will never live a normal life because of this. I believe they all eventually won multi million dollar settlements, but for once I agree in these large sums. They had their future ahead of them with a Duke degree and would have the chance to make that money. Also there will always be some who believe that they were rich kids that got off because of their wealth and their skin color, not based on the facts.</p>
<p>And to our sons, there is another lesson here: if a girl is willing to have sex with 5 guys at the same time, run away, fast. She is unstable and might decide to accuse you of rape.</p>
<p>And if you decide to participate, you are stupid.</p>
<p>The point about sleeping with all of the other girls applies to guys too. If you sleep with a girl, you sleep with all of the other guys she’s slept with and all of the girls that they’ve slept with. Our son’s bio class had an interesting lab demonstrating this in the context of the characteristics of diseases spreading.</p>
<p>I believe when you talk to kids about STDs it has a bigger effect than the pregnancy fear. I always tell my kids, STDs are like luggage you can never get rid of, and that brings it home to them. A pregnancy there are still options, Herpes, HIV there are no options, you will live the rest of your life with it.</p>
<p>This case makes me uneasy. I HOPE it is a false claim and that she hasn’t recanted a true claim. One of the suspects was still “at large.” What if he got to her and threatened her? </p>
<p>There are a LOT of false claims of rape–and it is probable that this is one more. However, there are also a lot of rape victims who recant because they are afraid of the perp or perps. This is less likely in this case…but still possible. If the cops have any reason to think there was a rape and the girl recanted, then her name should not be released. If they know it was a lie from the get-go, then, yes, they should release her name. </p>
<p>The would have the interrogations and the physical evidence and the histories and any records of the accused. Their names were publicized so that anyone else observing similar behavior could come forth. Young adults at that age are usually not that good at fooling law enforcement personnel and it’s more likely that LE would be able to trick them into revealing incriminating information if there was a crime. We’re assuming that this police department and the prosecutor did their jobs but they are at a big advantage compared to the average citizen in investigation.</p>
<p>Also, if the story is true, it make the school look very, very bad. I went to their web site yesterday after this thread was posted, and digged, and digged, and could not find anything at all on the school web site with regard to the rape. Just now, I went to the site again, and there is the alert, front page, telling that the student retracted her accusation. So they selectively post alerts, they do not post all of them.</p>
<p>The NY Post online article has the girl’s name in it. It quotes the four men who were arrested. Two denied ever having sex with the girl. The article said surveillance tapes failed to back up the girl’s story. So it seems like a lot of posters are assuming that she did actually have sex with the five guys but it was consensual. We really can’t assume that-it now seems like maybe something else happened.</p>
<p>If she claimed that all five had sex with her and the rape kit disagrees, then she has a problem unless she claimed that condoms were used. Given the reckless behavior that would have been involved, one would doubt their use. I don’t think that the number really matters other than disproving her claims.</p>
<p>It sounds like the police did a pretty good job on this case.</p>