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The Hofstra false rape accusation is a chilling case study in the harsh and byzantine ways our purportedly enlightened society not only tolerates but tacitly encourages rape lies as the price of battling rape, without regard for the terrible harm to the men and boys falsely accused. Modern people cannot stomach the sort of vigilante "justice" that, well into the 20th Century, condemned countless falsely accused men and boys to the lynch mob's rope. But the Hofstra case is a somber warning that the witch-hunt hysteria fomented by those self-anointed rape avengers of yesteryear is alive and well in our news media, in our law enforcement apparatuses, indeed, in society at large.

One of the biggest contributing factors to wrongful convictions is police tunnel vision. This occurs in a fairly high percentage of the cases that have been studied - post DNA exonerations.  It occurs when police narrow in on a suspect from the very beginning and then fail to consider other possibilities, suspects or scenarios. They ignore evidence that points away from their suspect and they proceed to shape or even manufacture evidence that supports their theory. There is no doubt in my mind that this happened in this case and one person - Jessica Adam shaped the investigation from the very beginning. Police never considered that what she was telling them may not be truthful, but we learned throughout the trial that she was untruthful about all of the state's key evidence.

Just one more of the growing reasons why the online registry should be taken offline! Even if the kid did what is claimed, he doesn't deserve to be assaulted by anybody!11/29/2012By GAIL CAMERON A battered paperboy told last nigh...

A 23-year-old Philadelphia man has been sentenced to 6-12 years in prison for a vicious and sadistic vigilante-justice attack - in retaliation for a crime that did not...

Jessica De La Vega said she was abducted from Goshen College at knife-point and then raped at a nearby park. Investigators say it was all a lie - that she made the story up as an excuse to her parents for being gone from home too long. For months, students at Goshen College took extra steps to stay safe. They used security escorts and watched out for one another. "We were always walking in pairs, especially that night," said Erica Yost, a senior at the university.

This is the woman who lied to police by telling them she had been 'violently raped'. Elizabeth Wilkinson, 21, of Skipton Old Road, Foulridge, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice after claiming she had been sexually attacked by a man at his house in Colne last September. As a result of her allegation a 23-year-old man from Colne, was arrested and interviewed at Burnley station as police launched an investigation into what they described as an 'horrific attack'. But she later admitted lying to her friends and officers about the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape and was charged with perverting the course of justice last December.

SEVIERVILLE - Sevier County authorities charged a woman with making a false report that she had been assaulted and raped in her home by an acquaintance. Susan Wagers was being held this morning in the Sevier County Jail in lieu of a $25,000 bond, according to the Sevier County Sheriff's Office. Wagers called 911 on July 8 and claimed she had been raped at her home on Willow Creek Lane near Sevierville. Authorities launched an investigation and searched for the alleged suspect in several areas in Sevier County, according to the SCSO. On July 9, Wagers admitted while being re-interviewed that the rape allegation was false, the Sheriff's Office said in a press release.

CONYERS - Conyers police have pressed charges against a woman accused of making a false sexual assault report, authorities said. Amanda Little, 26, of Oxford, initially told police that she was kidnapped while walking in the parking lot of the Walmart at about 1 a.m. on Dogwood Drive on June 24, investigators said. Little said she was taken to an undisclosed location and sexually assaulted, said police. Upon further investigation, and after reviewing video from the Walmart parking lot, police said Little's story simply didn't add up. She later admitted to detectives that she lied and told them that she had been having sex at another location when her cell phone, which was in her back pocket, accidentally dialed the number of her boyfriend's friend and left a voicemail recording, police said. Little said she came up with the abduction story as a cover up, investigators said.

At 37, Meredith Maran made one of the toughest decisions of her life, one that would result in her biggest mea culpa: She accused her father of molesting her as a child. Her new memoir, "My Lie: A True Story of False Memory," chronicles her experiences with repressed memories and what ultimately led Maran to recant her claim. In an equally candid interview, the journalist discusses her saga, which unfolded at a time when the entire country was embroiled in a now controversial, Salem Witch Trials-like panic over sexual abuse.

A LYING teenager who falsely accused her ex-boyfriend of rape was jailed for 12 months yesterday. Spiteful Amanda Bradley, 19, texted her new partner to say she had been attacked. He called police and the 28-year-old ex was arrested while still in Bradley's bedroom. The accused man insisted Bradley agreed to sex - but had to endure a three-month nightmare before she admitted lying. Judge Steven Everett told the teenager: "You knew full well you were going to get him into trouble in a very big way."

Authorities arrested Kristin Milligan, 54, after police said she made false reports about being raped and sparked an emergency response from the Austin Police Department Friday. A couple of police officers responded to Sixth Street and Congress Avenue about a disturbance in progress at 8:15 p.m., after Milligan reportedly called to say there was a male on the scene who had kidnapped and held her captive for five days. Milligan allegedly told the operator he had fled the scene but said she could see him assaulting another female at the moment. Police found the suspect matching the caller's description at a bus stop a block away , where the man told police Milligan approached him at Sixth Street and Congress Avenue and said she would call 911 to report he had raped her if he did not get her a beer.

Judge speaks of "nightmare" for men wrongly accused by Emma Blunden A woman who falsely accused four men of raping her has been jailed for two years. Twenty-one-year-old Emma Blunden, sobbed as she was led to the cells at Reading Crown Court this morning (Monday). She initially accused a man named [name withheld] of pinning her down and raping her at Newbury's Two Saints hostel, where both were staying at the time, on July 26 2008. Mr [name withheld] was arrested and detectives launched a thorough investigation, the court was told, before realising that Blunden was lying to prevent a boyfriend discovering that the sex was consensual.

When Melinda Denham lied about being raped, it resulted in two people being placed behind bars. First, the man she accused, [name withheld], was jailed for two months last year before Denham admitted she lied. On Wednesday, a judge threw Denham into prison for six months, a rarity on a conviction for Ohio's lowest-level felony, which usually results in probation. "What you did in this case is, you caused a man to be incarcerated and he had done nothing and the worst part about that was you knew from the very start that he had done nothing," Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Steve Martin told Denham. "What you did was terrible beyond any words."

Two women are now facing felony charges after filing a false rape report this weekend in Fort Smith. Police arrested 19-year-old Heather Smith and her 21-year-old roommate Jeni Melton, after they claimed two unidentified men came into their apartment and raped Smith. Police were called to Roosters Bar on Garrison Avenue around 4:41 a.m. Saturday. Officers spoke with Smith and Melton about the alleged incident. The women told police they had left Roosters around 3 a.m. and shortly after they arrived at their residents on Birnie Avenue, two men came into their home uninvited. According to the report, one suspect pinned Melton to the floor, while the second raped Smith in a back bedroom.

LAGUNA NIGUEL (KTLA) -- Orange County Sheriff's investigators say a woman who said someone tried to rape her along a busy street was arrested Thursday for filing a false police report after admitting she made up the whole story. "She terrorized her own community," Orange County Sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said. "It's outrageous and caused a lot of undue fear." 20 year old Danielle Deichman initially told authorities that she was assaulted Tuesday night while walking along La Paz Road. Investigators say she claimed she had been grabbed from behind and knocked to the ground near Kings Road at about 7:30 p.m.

A woman who falsely cried rape for a second time has been spared jail because a judge deemed it 'unfair' for her child to be born in prison. Heavily pregnant Gemma Scoones, 27, stood before Judge Michael Taylor in the dock at Durham Crown Court on Friday to be sentenced for perverting the course of justice. Last year, Scoones was given a 12-month jail sentence by the court after she admitted a similar offence involving a false rape allegation against her estranged husband, following the break up of their relationship.

A 21-year-old aspiring model is facing jail after falsely accusing a man of rape. Samantha Merry, from Great Baddow, wasted over 230 hours of police time after making the false claim relating to a 37-year-old man from Chelmsford back in March of this year. At Chelmsford Crown Court this week, Merry pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice in court last week and now faces sentencing on 15 November.

Six people have pleaded guilty in the hammer attack of a man after police say a woman falsely claimed he'd raped her. Felisha Hardison, her mother and four men pleaded guilty Friday in the attack on 25-year-old [name withheld]. Investigators say the Latrobe woman had claimed Mr. [name withheld] raped her, prompting the attack last April. Investigators say a group of men beat Mr. [name withheld] and hit him with a claw hammer as Ms. Hardison and her mother waited in a nearby van. Mr. [name withheld]'s injuries were limited to cuts and bruises. Less than a month after that attack, Ms. Hardison pleaded guilty to filing a false rape report in a separate case.

ORLANDO - A 21-year-old woman admitted she fabricated being raped Monday night and was arrested on charges of making a false report, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office. This was the fourth false rape report that Emily Riker has made, and the third in 2010, according to a police report. Riker claimed a man driving a silver Toyota approached her in the parking lot of a CVS store and forced her into his car near Powers Drive and Silver Star Road, police said.

A McCalla teen is under arrest after authorities say she made up a story that she was raped to avoid getting in trouble for being out past her curfew. Her tale of being attacked at a service station made its way onto the internet and grew to the point where rumors spread that the same type of incident had occurred two other times over the past week, said Jefferson County Chief Deputy Randy Christian. "At the very least it caused serious concerns and some panic in that area and also had the potential to damage the reputation of area businesses," Christian said. Brittany Krider, 18, is charged with giving false information to law enforcement. She was booked into the county jail Tuesday and released on $5,000 bond.