Before I get into these false accusations of rape and/or sexual assault, these terrible incidents happen all the time. This story is not to disregard real people with real experiences, but it is to show that there are some false accusations that also destroy people’s lives. 

These are not common occurrences in rape cases, but they do happen. The FBI did a study that found about eight percent of rapes cases were proven to be fake.. Once again this article is not to say “don’t believe women.” In the same article it says only about 35 percent of sexual assaults are even reported to the police. 

Sexual abuse is a horrific thing. Lying about being sexually abused to ruin an innocent person’s life is also a horrific thing. Lives are devastated on both sides of the fence from a real and terrible act to exploiting people’s bank accounts for easy money. 

Some people would like to blame the #MeToo movement for all of this but these accusations happened before this movement started. It has been happening for a long time and will most likely continue to happen. 

In 2002, more than a decade ago, a teenager named Brian Banks who had verbally committed to USC and who was destined to play in the NFL. Those dreams were crushed when as a junior, Banks was falsely accused of raping a classmate and was sentenced to six years in prison and to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life plus giving the accuser $1.5 million. At 17 years old he was sent off to prison where he served five years and two months of his sentence before his accuser came out and said she fabricated the whole story. Banks got his sex offender title dropped but has still not received that money and his professional career was wasted in a jail cell. 

Patrick Kane, an NHL star for the Chicago Blackhawks. He was also accused of rape until the accusers lawyer dropped out of the case because the mother created a hoax about the police handling DNA evidence. 

Perhaps the most heart-breaking story is that of two college football players. Malik St. Hilaire and another who didn’t want his name to be associated with the case. These two were accused of raping another college student and the trial lasted over two years. Both players were expelled following the accusations, losing both their scholarships. 

“The roller-coaster of emotions: fear, anger, sadness, embarrassment, depression, anxiety and the list goes on. She accused me of what I believe to be a horrendous, horrific crime out of her own selfish concerns. I lost my scholarship, my dream of continuing to play football and now I am in debt $30,000 and I’m simply trying to get ahead as best as I can,” said St. Hillaire at the woman’s trial. There was justice served when the woman was sentenced to one year in prison. 

I would like to reiterate that rape is not an allegation to take lightly. If one would hear about a rape accusation and immediately say “she’s lying” well then frankly that person isn’t intelligent. The numbers support that women are shut down and discredited before a trial is even over. Don’t not believe women because of this article. Do not belittle a woman or challenge if what she says is true. This is just to show that sometimes there are false accusations that can ruin a person’s life just as countless women’s lives are ruined by disgusting people.