False Allegations of Rape

THERE can be little doubt that the spectre of false rape allegations has significantly influenced the development of legal doctrine and its enforcement. The fear of false allegations has been used to justify evidential rules in cases involving sexual offences such as the corroboration warning,' the retention of the marital rape immunity' and continues to influence police and prosecutorial decisionmaking.' Sir Matthew Hale's seventeenth century opinion that rape "is an accusation easily to be made and hard to be proved, and harder to be defended by the party accused, tho never so innocent",4 and the suspicion of rape complainants that this view represents has figured prominently in the legal response to rape. Across many jurisdictions, judges, legal practitioners and scholars have commented upon the ease with which women, children and sometimes men can fabricate an allegation of rape and how difficult it is to refute such claims.' This suggestion has been made by