False accusation can damage reputations

Article here. Excerpt:

'Some argue that we are creating a new paradigm for 'innocent until proven guilty’ in sexual assault and rape culture.

Others argue that false accusations, often also labeled as unfounded or unsubstantiated, are so rare that they need not be a cause for concern as their overemphasis undermines real reports.

In a Symposium on False Allegations of Rape, David Lisak, Lori Gardinier, Sarah C. Nicksa and Ashley M. Cote authored a study titled ‘False Allegations of Sexual Assault: An Analysis of Ten Years of Reported Cases,’ in which they gathered statistics on “one of the most controversial disputes affecting the discourse related to violence against women… the dispute about the frequency of false allegations of sexual assault.”

The study looked at 136 cases of reported sexual assault over a ten year period at a university campus. Of the 136 cases, 8 (5.9 percent) were labeled as false allegations, the study said. “These results, taken in the context of an examination of previous research, indicate that the prevalence of false allegations is between 2 percent and 10 percent.”'