[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by WOMBAI

I find this a difficult one - and have mixed feelings!

Like many I think women who make false accusations - should be severely punished and their identities exposed - it is despicable behaviour!

And, whilst in theory at least, I agree male defendants should be entitled to anonymity until proven guilty - my concern is that many 'get-off' on technicalities and may not necessarily be innocent! Rape can be a hard offence to prove and, as such, many guilty offenders are acquited on lack of evidence - free to rape again with no-one being aware of their propensity to rape!

I guess it depends on what's more important, public awareness or protecting the innocent. Without anonymity people would automatically be wary of anyone accused rape guilty or not which means if someone did get away with it then it could make it harder for them to repeat it in future but the problem is that the innocent people get tarred with the same brush too. While WITH anonymity, innocents can get on with their lives but that could apply to the guilty who get away with it.

For me personally I'd say go with anonymity, The Law's flawed but it's not that flawed I doubt that many can get away with such a crime if they are guilty so you would be punishing more innocent people for the sake of punishing a few.