1. Sexual Assault & The Innocent Man
Acjs 2016
Katie hail-jares, belen lowrey, katie mitchell & jon gould
Department of justice, law & criminology
American university

2. False Rape Claims
“In general, it appeared that this classification [of a false allegation] had been based either on police perceptions of the victim’s character, or on an evaluation of how successfully her case could be prosecuted. […] Factual evidence that there had been no rape—which was the only justifiable basis for such classification– was absent in every case.” (Clark & Lewis, 1977) “Those who believe that rape victims lie might look at the report of the New York City Rape Analysis Squad which found that only two percent of rape charges reported were false and that these figures were not out of step with false charges made for other serious crimes.” (Pattullo, 1983 citing Brownmiller, 1975)

3. False Rape Claims
Wide range in predictions of frequency (Rumney, 2006)
1-90% of all sexual assault cases
Kanin (1994): 41% (n=109)
Kelly et al. (2005) 3% (n=2,634)
Meta-analysis suggest occurrence is around 7% (Rumney, 2006)
Wide range in formalization of methods
Kanin & methodologies
Wide range in definitions
Unfounded vs. False

4. What is a false rape claim?
“The determination that a report of sexual assault is false can be made only if the evidence establishes that no crime was committed or attempted. This determination can be made only after a thorough investigation. This should not be confused with an investigation that fails to prove a sexual assault occurred. In that case, the investigation would be labeled unsubstantiated. The determination that a report is false must be supported by evidence that the assault did not happen.” (International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2005b, pp ; italics in origin).

5. Research Question
How often does a false rape claim result in the wrongful a) indictment or b) conviction of a factually innocent defendant?
How do those cases originating from a false rape claim differ from other sexual assault cases resulting in a wrongful indictment or conviction?
How do defendants in false rape allegations differ from those who are not?
How do the nature of cases based off of false rape allegations differ?

6. The Dataset
Subset of cases featuring innocent defendants who were wrongfully indicted or convicted
Total dataset n=460
Subset (sexual assault only) n=198
Relied upon a two-pronged proof of innocence
Conservative definition of factual innocence
Criminal justice official validation
Evidentiary proof (that would convince a reasonable person)
Additional codes were added (700+ variables)

7. Origin of CJS Involvement
Eyewitness/victim identification
Police identification
Other identification
Physical evidence
LE misconduct
Criminal history
Other
Unknown

8. Kanin’s Motivations for False Reporting
Alibi Function (Kanin, 1994)
Retribution/Retaliation
Attention Seeking
Financial Gain
Recovered Memory/Cult Hysteria (added)
Other or Undetermined

9. Methods
Descriptive statistics
Bivariate analysis
Chi-square & ANOVAs

10. Descriptive Statistics
Variable
All Cases (n=198)
False Rape Allegations (n=32)
All Other Sexual Assault Cases
(n=166)
Indictment stemmed from a false rape allegation (%Yes)
16.2 (32)
Case Outcome***
Near Miss
26.8 (53)
78.1 (2
16.9 (28)
Wrongful Conviction
73.2 (145)
21.9 (7)
83.1 (138)
Case Origin
Victim/Eyewitness ID***
54.8 (108)
96.9 (31)
46.4 (77)
Officer identification**
14.2 (28)
0.0 (0)
Other party identification+
8.6 (17)
10.2 (17)
Physical evidence
5.6 (11)
0.0 (0)
6.6 (11)
LE Misconduct
1.0 (2)
Criminal history+
Other
2.0 (4)
3.6 (6)
Unknown
5.1 (10)
6.0 (10)

11. False Rape Allegations (n=32) All Other Sexual Assault Cases (n=166)
The Cases
Variable
All Cases
(n=198)
False Rape Allegations (n=32)
All Other Sexual Assault Cases (n=166)
Did the case involve a false confession or incriminating statements? (%Yes)
12.1 (24)
12.5 (4)
12.1 (20)
Was forensic evidence presented?*
Yes, no errors in presentation
55.8 (110)
59.4 (19)
55.2 (91)
Yes, errors in presentation
27.4 (54)
30.3 (50)
Not presented
16.8 (33)
28.1 (9)
14.6 (24)
Were invalidated forensics use? (%Yes)**
17.8 (35)
0.0 (0)
21.1 (35)
Did the defense mount a weak defense? (%Yes)***
37.4 (74)
3.1 (1)
44.0 (73)
Did the prosecution mount a highly probative case? (%Yes)+
17.2 (34)
26.5 (9)
73.5 (25)
How long did the defendant stay under CJ supervision, mean months (SD)***
125.6 (101.6)
28.9 (48.1)
144.4 (98.6)
Did the defendant receive compensation?**
Yes
62.5 (115)
41.7 (10)
66.9 (107) No
23.9 (44)
33.3 (8)
21.3 (34)
Currently Seeking
13.6 (25)
25.0 (6)
11.9 (19)

12. False Rape Allegations All Other Sexual Assault Cases (n=166)
The Defendants
Variable
All Cases
(n=198)
False Rape Allegations
(n=32)
All Other Sexual Assault Cases (n=166)
Gender (%Male)**
99.0 (196)
93.8 (30)
100.0 (166)
Race (%Non-white)**
69.7 (138)
50.0 (16)
73.5 (122)
Age, mean years (SD)
27 (8.2)
31.3 (11.3)
26.2 (7.3)
HS Diploma (%Yes)*
52.8 (48)
78.6 (11)
48.1 (37)
Mental Illness/Difference (%Yes)
6.7 (13)
6.8 (11)
6.3 (2)
Prior criminal conviction (%Yes)+
59.3 (96)
43.5 (10)
61.9 (86)
Number of past criminal convictions, mean (SD)***
1.2 (2.1)
0.64 (0.85)
1.3 (2.2)
More than 3 prior criminal convictions (%Yes)
32.3 (64)
31.3 (10)
32.5 (54)
Similar criminal history (%Yes)
18.7 (17)
10.0 (1)
19.8 (16)

13. Motivation for Bringing False Allegation
Alibi function: 19.4 (6)
Revenge/Retaliation: 9.7 (3)
Attention/Sympathy Getting: 19.4 (6)
Financial or Other Gain: 6.5 (2)
Recovered Memory: 9.7 (3)
Other/Undetermined: 35.5 (11)

14. Discussion
False rape allegations do differ from other sexual assault cases.
They still make up a tiny fraction of wrongful convictions
Overall, the system works at identifying them early in the process.

15. Questions? Comments?
Katie Hail-Jares, Ph.D. Belen Lowrey