Criminal Injustice: Judge Convicts Alleged Rape Victim for Filing False Report

From Shakespeare's Sister:

A 17-year-old girl went to police at the urging of her friends after she was allegedly gang-raped by three men, including her boyfriend. The men testified that the act was consensual. After reviewing all the information and statements, prosecutors decided they didn’t think they could prove a rape allegation, and so declined to prosecute the case.

Instead, they prosecuted the victim for filing a false police report. Yesterday, she was found guilty.

Kevin Hayden of The American Street knows the alleged victim well and attended the trial. His post is getting too much traffic to access right now, but it contains the following:

I attended this trial.  It was especially interesting that the prosecutor kept referring to the three men involved as 'boys', when they were fully grown men.  The woman was 17.  —  The judge found inconsistencies in all of the stories, thus establishing reasonable doubt in every story.

Rape victims already have to struggle with fear and shame when deciding whether to come forward about what has happened to them. Must they also worry about the possibility of being prosecuted?

The Oregonian has more:

Kevin Neely, spokesman for the Oregon Attorney General's Office, said it was rare for alleged sex crime victims to be charged much less convicted of filing a false police report.

"Our concern is always with the underreporting of sexual assaults," he said, "not with false reporting. It's a safe bet that prosecutions for false reporting are rare."