Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site kontron.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!ihnp4!pesnta!pertec!kontron!cramer
From: cramer@kontron.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: The Dotson Case
Message-ID: <174@kontron.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 22-May-85 12:19:36 EDT
Article-I.D.: kontron.174
Posted: Wed May 22 12:19:36 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 24-May-85 23:39:07 EDT
References: <2220@decwrl.UUCP>
Organization: Kontron Electronics, Irvine, CA
Lines: 47

> The Dotson Case_________________________________________________________________
> 
> 	I'm surprised there hasn't been any talk about the Dotson case in this
> newsgroup.  Well I've got plenty to say!
> 
> 	I'm outraged by the overwhelming media attention on this case.  One
> woman claims she lied about being raped, and we see it on the front pages now
> for over a month!  The Associated Press, in its neverending search for news that
> supports the _status_quo_ (read:  white patriarchy), diligently roots out ob-
> scure cases of alleged falsely-accused rape from various nooks and crannies to
> "show" us that the Dotson case isn't an "isolated incident."

I recall that at about the same time as the Dotson case, there was another
women back East who recanted her testimony against the accused in a rape case.
The news media hasn't followed up on that one, perhaps because there was
some question about the truthfulness of the recantation.

The Dotson case is in the media so much because a clear injustice has been
done in delaying the accused's release from prison.  If the crime alleged,
was murder, and then the only witness claimed her testimony was made up,
and the "justice" system kept Gary Dotson in prison anyway, wouldn't you
be upset if the news media *didn't* make it a headline event?

> 	Somewhere in all the brouhaha, the media has forgotten to mention a few
> very important facts:
> 
> 	    o Less than 1% of rape accusations turn out to be false.
> 	      This is by far the lowest rate of false accusation for
> 	      any crime.
> 

Where does this statistic come from?  Statistics on net.women have lately
been thrown around with abandon; some of those statistics have been found to
be incorrect.

> 	    o The conviction rate for rape is about 2%.  This is by
> 	      far the lowest rate of conviction for any crime.
> 

Is the conviction rate 2% of those charged?  Is it 2% of all crimes?  If
you mean 2% of all rapes result in a conviction, that is lower than all
crimes, but not dramatically so.  Also, if you means 2% of rapes result in
a conviction, there is characteristic of rape that you have overlooked:
rapists usually commit *hundreds* of rapes during their "career"; they are
frequently convicted on just a few of those rapes, because evidence is
inadequate on the others, or because no connection is made to other rapes
committed by the same rapist.