An Unbelievable Story of Rape

[shrike]

https://www.propublica.org/article/false-rape-accusations-an-unbelievable-story?utm_source=et&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter&utm_content=&utm_name=

An 18-year-old said she was attacked at knifepoint. Then she said she made it up. That’s where our story begins.

by T. Christian Miller, ProPublica and Ken Armstrong, The Marshall Project December 16, 2015 This story was co-published with The Marshall Project.

March 12, 2009
Lynnwood, Washington

No one came to court with her that day, except her public defender.

She was 18 years old, charged with a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail.

Rarely do misdemeanors draw notice. Her case was one of 4,859 filed in 2008 in Lynnwood Municipal Court, a place where the judge says the goal is “to correct behavior — to make Lynnwood a better, safer, healthier place to live, work, shop and visit.”

But her misdemeanor had made the news, and made her an object of curiosity or, worse, scorn. It had cost her the newfound independence she was savoring after a life in foster homes. It had cost her sense of worth. Each ring of the phone seemed to announce another friendship, lost. A friend from 10th grade called to ask: How could you lie about something like that? Marie — that’s her middle name, Marie — didn’t say anything. She just listened, then hung up. Even her foster parents now doubted her. She doubted herself, wondering if there was something in her that needed to be fixed.


A long read, but worth it. And the story is not what you think.

[A Little Weird]

1. It's no wonder so many women don't report their rapes

They are the ones the cops go after.

[shadowmayor]

2. Terrible and Incredible

This is a story that should be read by as many people as possible.