Jesus Ortiz, Kevin Taveras, Stalin Felipe and Rondell Bedward were falsely accused of rape by a Hofstra University student, arrested, arraigned and all but convicted in the eyes of public opinion before video evidence contradicted the claims of the accuser. After their arrest, the student in the group was immediately suspended.  Another was fired from his job (though since learned he’ll be reinstated).  All their names are forever tarnished.  From an outsiders perspective, the worst part of the whole affair is that we’re forced to acknowledge that they were lucky and should be thankful.

Many others before them have not been so lucky.  Although eventually cleared, the men in the infamous Duke Lacrosse case were forced to endure hell, despite a lack of evidence and a story by the accuser littered with inconsistencies, for almost a year.  Even after being cleared, liberal teachers and those invested emotionally in the evil white male narrative continued to harass them.

These are not just isolated incidents, as evidence suggests that as many as 1 in 4 charges are false. Others research has found the figure to be closer to 50%.  There are many different reasons why it happens. Some women want to be the center of attention. Some want to get back at ex-partners. Some are completely irrational, seem to have no motive whatsoever, or want to make a political statement.  Many, like the woman in the Hofstra case, are just cheating tramps and don’t want to live with the consequences.

Why should we expect them to?  A generation of feminist agitation has taught them there ought to be no consequences for any choices they make.  Don’t want consequences for having sex? Take a pill.  Don’t want consequences for forgetting? Take another the next morning! If that doesn’t work, get an abortion.  Don’t want consequences for being an unfaithful tramp? Well, we know what the option for that is.  The culture of no consequences has permeated all of society, and rape as an all purpose get-out-of-responsibility-for-my-sins card is a direct result.

Meanwhile, anyone who dares cast any form of judgment or scorn on the culture of partying, boozing and fornicating first and only thinking later, if at all, is depicted as a sexist oppressor wanting to chain women to the stove.  Society has lost all ability to police this self-indulgent and socially destructive behavior before it reaches the point of condemning innocent men to prison.

It’s true that many of these women are brought up on charges, but the punishments are usually trivial and pale in comparison to the years, and sometimes decades, their victims spend behind bars.  That’s if they get punished at all.  The accuser in the Duke LaCrosse case graduated in 2008 with a degree in police psychology.  I guess they didn’t have a major in being a lying degenerate.

Feminists are always quick to point out the danger of a “chilling effect” on women who might come  forward with legitimate accusations.  That’s a reasonable concern, but it’s not the only factor worth taking into account. What about the need to chill women who, with a single false word, seek to destroy the lives of innocent people?

Speaking of consequences, prosecutors are rarely held to account for indiscriminately arresting men on the basis of a single person’s word.  We are told repeatedly how unreliable eye-witness testimony is, yet in the case of rape it is often the only evidence required to arrest, or even convict.  Feminists have made it very hard for police to question the testimony of accusers without fear of being labeled insensitive or sexist. But when mere arrest is enough to result in life-long consequences, law enforcement needs to take a more critical eye to accusations of rape.  Rape is a serious crime, but it shouldn’t be compounded by policies that routinely result in the social destruction or false imprisonment of the innocent.

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