False Rape Accusations

The petition is entitled sentence those found guilty of making false rape allegations to a ten year jail term plus loss of anonymity and the explanatory notes say

"Police that have erroneous prosecuted should be found guilty of incompetence and dismissed. Males accused should be granted anonymity.

False accusations of rape are a horrible thing, can ruin lives, and certainly should be punished. But this is not the way of doing it.

Admittedly the petitioner seems to be implying a separate trial for a woman whose accusation of rape has failed, rather than some kind of automatic you-made-the-accusation-he-was-found-not-guilty-therefore-we-imprison-you thing which is how I first read the petition. But I still fear that the effect of this legislation would be to make women more reluctant to accuse their rapists. After all, it so often comes down to her word against his; you can't feel confident that you can prove "beyond reasonable doubt" that you've been raped. And if you don't, my Gods, you're suddenly threatened with imprisonment! I'm not sure I'd have the courage to go through with a prosecution, with that hanging over me.

Furthermore, I don't like the implication that the police should be extra-careful of evidence in rape cases. To my way of thinking, if a police officer's pushed for a prosecution erroneously, s/he should already be being charged and/or disciplined. I don't think rape cases should be special. Actually, in a way, that goes for an accuser, too - someone whose accusation of rape has led to a not-guilty verdict may, in the right circumstances, already be charged with wasting police time and so on, may s/he not? So why extra legislation?

The only thing I do agree with is the idea of anonymity for the accused. I don't see any reason not to provide that protection; it won't benefit the guilty to be thus protected, and it will protect the innocent.