Accuser vs Accused in Rape Cases

Should a victims name be released if rape charges are brought against someone?

  • Yes

    Votes: 8 42.1%
  • No

    Votes: 11 57.9%

  • Total voters
    19

jazz lady

~*~ Rara Avis ~*~
PREMO Member
No. I don't think very many rape victims would come forward if they knew their name was going to become public information. The media would poke and pry into every aspect of their life. The victim is not the one on trial.
 

Ken King

A little rusty but not crusty
PREMO Member
I think the name should be released. We don't hide the names of victims of other crimes and I don't think rape victims names need to be hidden either. Why won't a woman who has been sexually assaulted come forward if there is a chance that their name will be released? They are victims, aren't they? They didn't cause the attack, it was something that happened to them, not something caused by them.
 

Ken King

A little rusty but not crusty
PREMO Member
Re: Larry here...

Originally posted by vraiblonde
...I'm with King 99% on this one.

The 1%? Withheld if you are under 18.
I agree on withholding information about minor victims, but not minor criminals.
 
F

Frostillicus

Guest
Retard: Yes sir, Mr. Bryant, I'll bring these brochures to your room by myself after hours! Wear something sexy? Can do!
Not a victim: Mr. Bryant, I'll have these brochures sent to your room during regular working hours. Enjoy your stay.

If you aren't a retard, this incident doesn't occur.
 

jazz lady

~*~ Rara Avis ~*~
PREMO Member
In our society, there is greater stigma attached to somebody who has been raped as opposed to being a victim of another crime. I've known several people who have been sexually assaulted. Those people knew when people were looking at them and whispering. A lot of malicious gossip gets spread and society tends to look askance at them like they are somehow dirty now.

I have a great compassion for people who have been in that situation. I very nearly was. It is hard to get past those feelings of violation and degradation without having it discussed publicly over and over again.

How would you react knowing John Doe was forcibly sodomized and see him every day at work? Or Jane Doe was raped and she's a relative of yours - your daughter, mother, sister? Or YOU were raped and it was been discussed by every one in your hometown and has made the local news? You release the name of rape victims and I will guarantee you will see a great drop in the number that get reported to the police.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Originally posted by Ken King
They are victims, aren't they? They didn't cause the attack, it was something that happened to them, not something caused by them.
Explain that to 99% of the retards out there that think women have it coming or invited it it somehow.

I'm undecided. On one hand, it lends more credibility if the accuser is an actual person and not just some anonymous charge filer. On the other hand, I think rape victims don't deserve to be publicly stigmatized over something that wasn't their fault.

Then again, I could care less about a rape victim that I don't even know. People get raped and murdered every day in this country. The only reason this one is interesting is because the accused is a celebrity. I have enough to worry about without taking on the troubles of 300 million of my fellow countrymen.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Okay, I didn't see Jazz' post before I made mine. Make my vote "against" releasing the names of rape victims. The only reason we want to know is out of prurient interest. There's no need for us to know the identity of any crime victim, period, let alone a rape victim.
 

Ken King

A little rusty but not crusty
PREMO Member
Originally posted by jazz lady
In our society, there is greater stigma attached to somebody who has been raped as opposed to being a victim of another crime. I've known several people who have been sexually assaulted. Those people knew when people were looking at them and whispering. A lot of malicious gossip gets spread and society tends to look askance at them like they are somehow dirty now.

I have a great compassion for people who have been in that situation. I very nearly was. It is hard to get past those feelings of violation and degradation without having it discussed publicly over and over again.

How would you react knowing John Doe was forcibly sodomized and see him every day at work? Or Jane Doe was raped and she's a relative of yours - your daughter, mother, sister? Or YOU were raped and it was been discussed by every one in your hometown and has made the local news? You release the name of rape victims and I will guarantee you will see a great drop in the number that get reported to the police.
What greater stigma are you talking about? A victim is a victim, if you have been harmed and want the wrong righted then you shouldn’t worry about what the gossip will be. On the other hand, if you are accused of a crime you should be able to bring just about anything that will help your case, as long as it is the truth.

The fact that some scummy lawyers attack the victim with innuendo and lies in their defense is what is screwed up in our society. When nonfactual information is brought forth by a lawyer and it is later proved to be a lie then an action should be taken against the lawyer that furthered the lie.

As to your hypothetical about John Doe, it wouldn’t impact me in the least as I wouldn’t be delving into another’s personal life anyway as it is none of my business. If it was a Jane Doe family member I would be right there beside them helping them to get through it and bringing the bastage to justice.

As we have seen in this high profile case names get released whether you want them to or not. We also know that they get released in not so high profile cases. I just don’t see the problem.

If we are going to drag the suppossedly innocent party through the media prior to them being proven guilty why shouldn't the victim be subjected to the same scrutiny?
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Someone is a victim in this case - it's either Kobe or some woman we don't know and will never know. Why do we care what her name is or what she looks like? She's going to have a judge and jury - she doesn't need us.

The only reason we care who she is is because we like Kobe and think she's falsely accusing him. If she said she was raped by Joe Sh*t the Rag Picker, we'd be content to let her have her privacy. Central Park Jogger, anyone?
 

migtig

aka Mrs. Giant
I voted "No". I feel every possible victim of every crime, as well as their families, have a right to privacy as well as time to heal, without having reporters hounding them and their neighbors and co-workers poking around in their business making assumptions about the kind of person he/she is.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Originally posted by migtig
I voted "No". I feel every possible victim of every crime, as well as their families, have a right to privacy as well as time to heal, without having reporters hounding them and their neighbors and co-workers poking around in their business making assumptions about the kind of person he/she is.
That's another great reason.
 

Ken King

A little rusty but not crusty
PREMO Member
Originally posted by vraiblonde
Someone is a victim in this case - it's either Kobe or some woman we don't know and will never know. Why do we care what her name is or what she looks like? She's going to have a judge and jury - she doesn't need us.

The only reason we care who she is is because we like Kobe and think she's falsely accusing him. If she said she was raped by Joe Sh*t the Rag Picker, we'd be content to let her have her privacy. Central Park Jogger, anyone?
Responding in reverse order.

The only reason we care is because the media has seen to it that we do. Other than them I wouldn’t give a rat’s @ss about what is going on between these two.

So what if it is Kobe that is a victim to the rants and ploy of a deceptive women? It’s alright that as a victim his name was drug through the mud. How do you figure that “she” will have a judge and jury? I always thought that the judge either heard the case by himself, ensuring both the conduct and the outcome of the trial in a fair manner, or that the judge provided the oversight and the jury decided the outcome in a fair and impartial manner.
 

Ken King

A little rusty but not crusty
PREMO Member
Originally posted by migtig
I voted "No". I feel every possible victim of every crime, as well as their families, have a right to privacy as well as time to heal, without having reporters hounding them and their neighbors and co-workers poking around in their business making assumptions about the kind of person he/she is.
How do you figure they have a right to privacy when they take a matter to trial, which unless sealed for some reason, will become a part of the public record?

I will agree with you that the media and many busy-bodies try to reach a verdict before there is any trial and maybe that needs to be clamped down upon, don’t know how you could do that though. What I do know is anything like that is contemplated the media will cry First Amendment foul.
 

Dymphna

Loyalty, Friendship, Love
There are too many people who say that rape victims brought it on themselves. They dress too provocatively, they went to the wrong part of town. They dated the wrong guy. They didn't fight back hard enough.

There are far few cases of, let's say, burglary victims who are blamed. They didn't have a good enough security system, too many people knew they'd be out of town. They stopped mail and newspaper delivery.

If I told you that my house had been burglarized, most of you'd feel sorry for me, I doubt any of you would accuse me of bringing it on myself. But it didn't take long for someone here to make that claim about a rape victim.
 

Christy

b*tch rocket
Originally posted by Frostillicus
Retard: Yes sir, Mr. Bryant, I'll bring these brochures to your room by myself after hours! Wear something sexy? Can do!
Not a victim: Mr. Bryant, I'll have these brochures sent to your room during regular working hours. Enjoy your stay.

If you aren't a retard, this incident doesn't occur.

:yeahthat: Totally in the Kobe Bryant case.

I have a hard time making a decision on this one, it all depends. Maybe the accused name should be witheld as well as the victim UNTIL guilt is proven, because if someone is falsely accused, doesn't that make them the victim? :shrug:
 

Dymphna

Loyalty, Friendship, Love
Originally posted by Ken King
How do you figure they have a right to privacy when they take a matter to trial, which unless sealed for some reason, will become a part of the public record?

The victim's name may be part of the public record, but most people, even the nosiest of busy bodies won't go down to the courthouse to find out. Newspaper reporters will and do. The newspaper reporters covering the case almost always know who the victim is, but most newspapers make it a policy not to publish names. That might be a law in some states, but it's not a law that would stand up to a 1st amendment challange. It's just that most news reporters choose not to publish that information.
 

Ken King

A little rusty but not crusty
PREMO Member
Originally posted by cmcdanal
There are too many people who say that rape victims brought it on themselves. They dress too provocatively, they went to the wrong part of town. They dated the wrong guy. They didn't fight back hard enough.

There are far few cases of, let's say, burglary victims who are blamed. They didn't have a good enough security system, too many people knew they'd be out of town. They stopped mail and newspaper delivery.

If I told you that my house had been burglarized, most of you'd feel sorry for me, I doubt any of you would accuse me of bringing it on myself. But it didn't take long for someone here to make that claim about a rape victim.
Well that depends. If you told people before hand you were going away on vacation or that you had left the home and didn’t lock the doors or close a window. Then I might say you deserved it, because you did.

As to the alleged rape I don’t know if it was or not. There are probably only two people that know for sure.
 

Sharon

* * * * * * * * *
Staff member
PREMO Member
I never heard of Kobe Bryant until this hit the media. That said, I think the accused has a right to know who the accuser is but the rest of us don't.

The whole thing is just sad from both sides of the fence. Some people are convinced that he couldn't possibly have raped that girl and have trashed her w/o knowing the facts. The facts, as of now are - he did cheat on his wife, we don't know if it was consenual. I have a hard time believing that was his first extra-marital indiscretion. It just doesn't make sense that he would pick this girl to be cheating on his wife with if he'd never done it before. People say he can have any girl he wants but maybe his sport is getting the one who doesn't want him. :shrug:
 
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