Why is anyone who is accused named publicly?

[BrilloPad]

British rape laws need urgent reform to prevent injustice - Telegraph

I am not sure why anyone should be named until they are found guilty?

[northernladuk]

I agree. The trial by public opinion can be much more severe than through the courts and can't be quashed if found not guilty.

[SueEllen]

The reason they are given publicity is to make other victims come forward.

Unfortunately most sexual offences are based on two people giving a different version of events so a 2nd etc complainant gives more creditability to the first complainant.

Remember the complainant can be a child who has been groomed as well as a drunk adult. It's difficult to legislate around people 14-17 as they can have legally have consensual sex but also have been groomed.

[SpontaneousOrder]

British rape laws need urgent reform to prevent injustice - Telegraph

I am not sure why anyone should be named until they are found guilty?

It's standard operating procedure for good reason - but perhaps rape / paedophile kinds of cases need handling differently for reasons already mentioned.

[BrilloPad]

It's standard operating procedure for good reason - but perhaps rape / paedophile kinds of cases need handling differently for reasons already mentioned.

What is that good reason?

I assumed it was just a five monkeys variant - The Five Monkeys Experiment (with a new lesson) – John Stepper's Blog

[SpontaneousOrder]

What is that good reason?

I assumed it was just a five monkeys variant - The Five Monkeys Experiment (with a new lesson) – John Stepper's Blog

Publicly accused, publicly tried, and publicly sentenced. Justice has to be seen to be done, and we don't really want secret trials and the like (like they do for accused terrorists). Slippery slope starting off at protecting the accused to ******* over the accused. And the same for the alleged victim too.

[NibblyPig]

They need to make false accusations a serious imprisonable offense as well.

It only takes a few accusations to get a person kicked out of school/university and shamed for life, even if it later comes out to be a lie. Some people have even been killed by mob justice for this.

In almost all cases, people that intentionally lie get away without any charges. Even if it's a complete total lie with video evidence, the victim can expect a stay in prison overnight or worse anyway.

Some people say it's to prevent people from being afraid to come forward, but there's a difference between not having enough evidence to prosecute or being unable to properly remember or explain what happened and blatantly lying. Not prosecuting for false accusations actually harms other victims because people will be less likely to take them seriously.

[SueEllen]

False accusations are treated as a serious offence but the CPS decide the majority of cases are not worth taking to court. Remember they waste a lot of police time and resources.

Plus with the likes of the child abuse, taxi driver etc cases the victims were telling the truth but it was the police and others deciding they were lying.

It's not unknown for the accused who has had the charges dropped to take out a private prosecution. Most people are advised strongly against.

The most recent famous case had the woman commit suicide before the case went to trial. So the guy who was accused of rape and then chased a private prosecution against her now looks even worse.

[northernladuk]

Thing is the press don't help any of this. Remember the story of the security guard ripping the suckling babe from the woman in Primark and two days later agencies about it all. Not a nice place for the gaurd to be in.

[NibblyPig]

False accusations are treated as a serious offence but the CPS decide the majority of cases are not worth taking to court. Remember they waste a lot of police time and resources.

Aye, but so do all the other false accusations that people do because there are no negative consequences. There are literally people who regret sleeping with someone and decide to call it rape to deceive their own conscience and save face with their friends. They'd think twice if they saw someone do 6 months in prison for trying to pull that stunt. Especially since if they get away with it they've destroyed someone's entire life on a whim, a 20 year sentence or similar plus eternal stigma and unimaginable personal torment.

Plus with the likes of the child abuse, taxi driver etc cases the victims were telling the truth but it was the police and others deciding they were lying.

You'd only be punished if you were lying beyond reasonable doubt, usually the false accusation cases are blatant with overwhelming evidence, usually because the person admits it after they're called out with contradicting testimony or bulletproof video evidence. So even if people said you were lying they'd not only have to accuse you of lying but also prove it, which would be impossible if you hadn't done anything.

The most recent famous case had the woman commit suicide before the case went to trial. So the guy who was accused of rape and then chased a private prosecution against her now looks even worse.

The most recent case I've seen is this teenager killing himself after being falsely accused of rape, published 6 days ago. The accuser recanted, is not named, and will suffer no consequences for the act.