Rape: Innocent until proven guilty or guilty until proven innocent?

Question

So I've seen a lot of posts on social media about women alleging a man raped her and everyone is outraged that he can still attend the same school and go about his "normal" life while the accusations are being investigated. They want him suspended from school until charges are cleared and they are trashed all over social media during the investigation. By the time the results come in it doesn't matter whether or not they actually did commit the crime, their lives are already forever ruined by the accusations. THEIR LIFE BEING RUINED IS 200% JUSTIFIED IF THEY DID COMMIT THE CRIME. Do you agree we should start delving out punishments BEFORE it is proven that they did do it? Are you innocent until proven guilty or guilty until proven innocent?

The reason I ask is I knew a girl in college who cheated on her bf and bragged about it. This went on for months. Tons of people knew about the affair and whether or not they approved they did keep their mouths shut. Her BF went to another school so he wasn't around to witness anything. Long story short the guy she cheated with professed his love to her, she rejected him because she wanted to stay with the bf who had better prospects, he got upset and ratted her out to the bf, she claimed he had raped her and it wasn't an affair. He was trashed on social media by those who didn't know him, he got suspended from school, and lost all his friends. I went to her once to talk to her and she said she wasn't willing to lose her bf over this guy and it's his fault for getting involved with her. Myself and other students testified that he didn't do it and he didn't get convicted but he lost everything. He was the nicest guy. She knew he didn't do it and she ruined his life anyways. I believe he works at a fast food restaurant now. Anyways, this is why the guilty until proven innocent thing bothers me so much. What are your thoughts?

Answer

"Innocent" in the eyes of the law, doesn't mean private institutions can't take measures to protect themselves and their students/employees/clients etc.

Answer

Innocent until guilty.

When we assume guilt almost nothing can convince you they DIDNT do it. And that's not a fair trial at all.

Although what a private institution does to protect themselves and their students is just fine 🤷🏼‍♀️ it'd look extra bad if they let him attend school and then have him convicted

Answer

Innocent until proven guilty in the eyes of the law. Where it gets complicated with private institutions is that they already do A LOT to protect rapists to the detriment of victims. Imagine how terrifying it would be to have to go to school with your rapist? In spite of the fact that people seem to be hyper-focused on false accusations as if they are more common than actual rapes, false accusations are actually pretty rare. So what do private institutions do? Who do they protect?

Answer

Rape culture and toxic masculinity sucks for everyone involved.

Answer

I've seen both sides, but I've mainly innocent even when proven proven guilty. Rapists are allowed to walk away with little to no jail time and during the trial, the victims are attacked both by media and lawyers. They assassinate their character, call them liars, try to make it seem like it was consensual, and scrutinize their sex life. During the filing of a report police belittle the victim and try to get them not to press charges and make it seem like they're overreacting. Its honestly sickening.

Answer

Guilty until innocent 🤷🏻‍♀️

Answer

I can't believe people are saying "innocent too proven guilty"

First off, I get some can cry rape. But it's always oblivious when that's not the case. A victim is hysterical, in shock, going crazy etc their body language very different it screams "fear" and isolation etc. The story, doesn't take Einstein to put it together and realize if they're lying or not. Sometimes victims get physically hurt that's enough there. Also during a rape kit exam, they can tell forced sex. Really no way of getting away with lying that's why the statistics are so LOW to not happening.

Just because it doesn't make it to trial or does and the case is dropped doesn't mean anything sadly victims lose due to "sit shaming" "victimization" or "privileged" reasons on the rapist behalf.

You're guilty til proven innocent. The victim is the victim not the accused!

Answer

I don't think the two things go together. This girl blatantly lied (as far as we know) about rape. This is SO disrespectful to real rape victims.

HOWEVER, this is a rare case. According to the FBI only 2-8% of reported rape is false. And this is only REPORTED, remember a ton of cases are never reported. Annnnnd this includes misidentifing the perp, and some women take it back because they don't want to deal with the victim blaming. So. It's actually a pretty small number of liars. Which means most are telling the truth and how society is quick to blame the victim.

This is an awful situation and I feel bad for the guy since he seemed to be the victim, but this is rare compared to how many people are actually raped. But I guess in the eyes of the law technically innocent until proven guilty. Except it's pretty damn hard to prove so. That's why perps get away with it so much.

Also don't get me started on all the celebrities that get accused of abuse and raping their spouses and they continue to get movie deals and records and millions.

Answer

The issue is, a lot of people report rapes and they aren't taken seriously. I don't think there would be as much outrage if rapists weren't getting away with the crime. In my experience, if you tell someone you are raped, they just don't want to believe you. It's really disheartening to be raped at a party and then have everyone you tell say "oh stop. You weren't raped. You just wanted to cheat on your boyfriend and have people feel sorry for you. Why do you want to ruin someone's life with that accusation." It's the only crime I can think of where the perpetrator gets more sympathy than the victim.

Answer

The shitty thing about rape is that it can be extremely hard to prove someone guilty.

Rape: Innocent until proven guilty or guilty until proven innocent?

Let's Glow!

The Top Baby Tracker App: Embrace New Beginnings with Tender Care

The Top Fertility Tracker App: Your Path to Achieving Pregnancy

The Top Pregnancy App: Nurturing Your Journey to Motherhood

The Top Period Tracker for Empowering Your Menstrual Health Journey