He said/She said

[jackfaire]

Recently I had a family member that came forward about a person abusing her. The person has since been removed from her life and the police have been informed so that an investigation can be started.

Unfortunatly near as we can tell there is 0 evidence that a crime was committed. Knowing the individual as I do I know she is telling the truth that isn't what this is about.

As much as I want to see the perpetrator pay for his crimes I fully admit that the individual's testimony on it's own is not enough to convict of a crime though.

That being said I have had a couple of different friends say that it should be.

While I wish I could pick and choose I think that if a law were ever passed that allowed only one person's testimony to be used to get a conviction without any other evidence or if a jury ever convicted on that basis alone that it would be a serious miscarriage of justice.

Whenever someone suggests something like that I always think, "But what about when I piss someone off and they decide to say I killed someone. They go up on the stand they say I killed or in other way hurt someone and I am sent to jail on that basis alone."

So what do you think? Should a person be able to be convicted only on one testimony or should the testimony be used as part of a larger body of evience?

[ExRetailDrone]

As much as it sucks for cases like this, there needs to be some other solid evidence for a conviction to be possible. People lie all the time, and lie detectors don't detect lies like their nickname suggests, even though a lot of people think they do. If convicting someone on the sole basis of one person's testimony were possible, then the problem the US has with overcrowded prisons now would look like a day on a deserted island. Just like you said, someone could get pissed off at some imagined wrong that may or may not have been committed, and could go to the police and say that the person they're pissed off at has abused them or raped them or something. Bam, that's it. That person's life is ruined. We've already heard stories similar to this with women falsely accusing guys of rape, and kids falsely calling CPS on their parents. Changing the laws to what your friends would want would be a horrible, horrible idea and would just lead to innocent people being screwed for life.

[DrFaroohk]

Unfortunately, many times all it does take is the word of another person. This only works when it is the least convenient for you, and oddly enough, it'll usually be the least credible person who can be found that will be the sole witness, and yet all will believe.

[Panacea]

An accusation is not enough to produce a conviction, nor should it be. There has to be evidence, and it has to be corroborated.

That being said, some prosecutors will file charges with very flimsy evidence in the hopes the accused will incriminate themselves or a jury is stupid.

It's sad that the OP's friend may not get justice if her allegations are true. But that's a sad fact of life; life is not always fair and the bad guy does not always get what he deserves. Or she.

[bara]

A couple years back I read about a guy over in england that was convicted of rape with nothing more than the testimony of one woman.

After serving over ten years, it was discovered that she had perjered herself. Worse, it wasnt the only time. She had done this at least 5 times, it might have been as high as 7 but I cant remember.

10 years of this mans life gone. Because they took her word for it. Bonus, the prison system tried charging him for room and board for the time he was in prison.

[Rageaholic]

Yeah, as hard as it must be for abuse victims to come forward, it needs to be investigated before they immedialy jump to prosecuting. Part of the problem is that abusers can often claim that the others are abusing them. I've actually known someone who spent the night in jail and all her jerkass husband had to do was call the police and claim that she went at him with a knife. In reality, he was a control freak who was doing this to "punish" his wife for daring to leave the house.

With that said, what would constitute proof? And how would the abused be able to get proof? If it all happens behind closed doors, it may not be as easy to prove abuse. I would love to see justice for the abused, but I know there's no way to know 100% without violating peoples privacy.

[jackfaire]

With that said, what would constitute proof? And how would the abused be able to get proof? If it all happens behind closed doors, it may not be as easy to prove abuse. I would love to see justice for the abused, but I know there's no way to know 100% without violating peoples privacy.

That's why I agree with restraining orders. You can grant them a lot easier even if the only proof is the individuals testimony.

But yeah unfortunatly much abuse does happened behind closed doors.

However often the abuse victim will talk about it. They will mention something that sounds unusual and it's up to people to ask questions when that happens.

When I was a child of abuse no one asked questions and when I said, "Hey this funky thing is happening" they told me it was normal and to forget about it.

As an adult when this person said things that sounded abnormal we asked we didn't just tell her "oh that sounds normal even though it's creepy" we flat out asked her about it and took action.

[Beckpatton]

In cases of sexual assault, especially molestation, very often there is no real physical proof. and as another poster said it does happen behind closed doors, it's all very hush hush, so a lot of times it does come down to he said/she said.

That being said, there are ways to gather proof based on testimony alone. Such as a child having knowledge of sexual acts that they shouldn't know about at all, being able to describe parts of their alleged attackers body that they normally should not have seen. It's not a lot, but it definitely helps their case.

It saddens me when I hear of cases where alleged victims have made up their story out of spite or regret, it makes it so much harder on the real victims. THEY should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law!