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Can Online Reporting System Help Prevent Sexual Assaults On Campus?
jyosim writes Studies have shown that as many as 90 percent of campus rapes are committed by repeat offenders. A new system is designed to help identify serial assaulters, by letting students anonymously report incidents in order to look for patterns. But some argue that having the ability to report someone with just the click of a button may not be a good thing. Andrew T. Miltenberg, a New York lawyer who represents young men accused of sexual misconduct, says though the system seems well intended, he is concerned about dangers it may pose to students who are accused. 'We're all guilty of pressing send on an angry text or email that, had we had to put it into an actual letter and proofread, we probably wouldn't have sent,' he says.
Anonymity plus rape accusations will equal lawsuits and destroyed lives.
Actually, if you RTFA (I know, this is /., why would you?), you'll see that a student cannot accuse anonymously.
They can either non-anonymously report the event to the authorities using the system, or they can record details but not report. If they choose to record, and someone else makes an accusation on the same person, the system will then allow the student to non-anonymously report.
Those anonymous "details" are accusations. A system like this will be used to intentionally harm people.
Some things need to be said...
"Rape culture" isn't really about solving any problems. It's about generating fear to generate money and votes.
Rape rates have been falling drastically since the 70's.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZlRN...
Rape rates on colleges are LOWER than outside of college:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi...
And rape rates in some other 1st-world countries are HUGELY higher--but nobody here cares apparently:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi...
But none of these facts comply with the myth of the "oppressive white male" who thinks he can rape and take whatever he wants.
Nobody disagrees with the idea that rape is a bad thing. But people are willing to hijack that axiom to create hysteria and generate political power.
My uncle was a Family Court judge for many years. He used to joke that he got so used to hearing allegations of child molestation and abuse in divorce and child custody cases that he was surprised when at least one parent DIDN'T accuse the other of molesting or abusing their kid.
If he and other judges like him had accepted it as dogma that 99.99% of such accusations were true, then there wouldn't be enough people walking around free today to run all the prisons for everyone locked up.
Citation needed.
How about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steubenville_High_School_rape_case