Maggie's Farm

I am not a lawyer and I spend zero hours in courts or dealing with criminal law. So my opinion is simply what I observe and hear. It appears to me that if a woman accuses a man of rape the assumption is that he is guilty. A very difficult accusation to defend yourself against. Probably more people in jail falsely accused of rape than falsely accused of any other crimes. Where the waters seem to be muddied is when the woman doesn't accuse the man of rape until weeks, months or years later. Understandably this makes people wonder why the delay. Now I understand that in some cases there could be a valid reason for waiting but in general it makes no sense.
Then there are the 'date rapes'. I have no doubt that date rapes happen. But again common sense prevails and you have to wonder why two lovers date and have sex for weeks or months and suddenly there is a 'rape'. I am reminded of a discussion with a divorce lawyer where he told me the first thing he does in a divorce is have the woman file a restraining order claiming fear of violence. This gives the lawyer leverage in the proceedings. He also said that if there are assets to be divided he also has the woman file sex abuse charges either to herself or her children. His reason is simply that it allows him to negotiate all the assets for the female party in return for dropping the charges. I assume not everyone has had that discussion with a lawyer but in general we all know this kind of thing does in fact happen.

In my humble opinion restraining orders are probably unconstitutional and useless EXCEPT as a way to use the weight of the legal system to take revenge on someone you dislike or has pissed you off.