There was also the big child porn sting in England. Turns out that some of the accused had simply had their credit cards stolen. I think 7 or so of these innocent people killed themselves as a result of being accused. Being accused of rape is no laughing matter. It is an accusation that will come up in a google search, and it will haunt you for life.

Its not what she said but how she said it. The amount of vitriol is almost palpable, and she has been steadily making it worse as the thread wears on.

What we have here is a relationship between two sexually mature people, who were both obviously capable of consent (confirmed by her father and any reasonable interpretation of consent), only one of the people was barely under the technical legal age of consent. For that "crime," he is lumped in the same category for people who forcibly rape children. As a result, he will be ostracized. At best, he will have to move. At worse it will follow him for the rest of his life. I don't think that's a fair punishment for what happened, and a glib "If you can't pay the time, don't do the crime," doesn't suffice.

If you think that a 17 year old is capable of understanding sex or consenting, by any interpretation other than the legal one, then you are stupendously naive. If you think destroying a person's life over such an indiscretion is acceptable... well that's far more fucked up than anything that couple did.

People are innocent until proven guilty. Even the scum of the earth deserve a fair trial, and to be proven guilty of the crimes they are accused of. If the evidence wasn't there, then what else can the police do? The fact that rape is horrible does not justify us becoming monsters ourselves.

The word of one person is simply not good enough to convict a person of a crime, especially when the consequences of even being accused of it are so serious.

So let me see if I understand you... you're blaming him, and me... people who have never raped a woman because we feel its wrong and highly immoral... for the crimes of other men, because somehow we pressured them into raping women? If this is correct, then you are fucked up. Seek help. Same goes if you are seriously suggesting that its ok that lives are destroyed from false accusations because rape is bad. What happened to you was a tragedy, but that does not excuse such ignorant, selfish, and pig-headed remarks.

Nono, the real conspiracy is that Obama is a cylon!