Forcible rape and attempted forcible rape between people who know each other, either casually or well, make up a sizeable percentage of the false accusations in the criminal justice system. The cry of rape or abuse is a familiar cry when a relationship goes sour or when a woman has second thoughts after a night of sex or near intimacy. While there are certainly legitimate claims of rape and attempted rape in the world, from the defendant’s perspective there are good reasons to view each claim with skepticism. Relationship rapes and date rapes are closely related and the techniques to defend each are similar.

The reasons for the accusations vary as do the situation, the character and personality of the alleged victim. In the system you see questionable accusations when dating or love relationships go sour and the woman is being rejected or being thrown aside for another woman. Sometimes in more casual dating the woman makes an accusation after having too much alcohol and engaging in sex. The morning after they realize what they have done and an accusation follows to protect their pride, cover their embarrassment, or justify a situation to their boyfriend or significant other.

Sometimes in younger women the issue of sex is still very delicate and the accusation comes after giving in and realizing afterwards what they have done does not sit well with their present psyche. Again, many times alcohol is a factor.

Sometimes the mental stability of the alleged victim is a major factor in making an accusation. All experienced rape defense lawyers have seen the young man who falls for a beautiful but unstable young woman and ends up getting accused when they break up or go farther than the woman’s mental state will allow.

And, quite frankly, men are often too driven by their sexual desires to be careful in their judgments about who they attempt to bed. Men view sex entirely different than women for the most part. Men are very capable of enjoying sex and not thinking anything about it afterwards except for how much fun they had. Women may claim that is how they feel but the facts of these accusations show they have a much harder time accepting it as such a meaningless act of pleasure. It is in these instances that false accusations arise.

Also, often times “no means no” to a woman. A man can easily interpret “no” as “yes.” He thinks she is just trying to show that she is not easy. Unfortunately, the trend in most states is that when a woman says no it means that consent to proceed has been withdrawn, even in the throes of great passion.

In a rape defense it is important for the lawyer to understand all of the circumstances of the relationship or the situation. A detailed minute by minute account is necessary to understand whether the rules have been broken. Many times if there is simply a misreading of signals, the benefit of the doubt will be given to the defendant. Most jurors have been in multiple sexual and intimate situations and they can understand mixed signals.

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