Innocent until proven guilty no more under new Orwellian rape law

By Ciaran Lovejoy

Under harsh new rape guidelines, men accused of committing date rape against a woman will have to prove she gave her consent in order to escape conviction in the UK.

With rising concern about rape in the western world, steps are being taken to increase the amount of convictions arising from accusations.

Rape is a notoriously difficult crime to prosecute, with the unfortunate truth being that often there is no way to prove that the assault took place.

The new guidelines imposed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders, aim to remedy this by placing the burden of proof on the accused, placing a greater onus to show evidence  that the woman consented to sex.

“No means no” is, according to Mrs Saunders, no longer sufficient, and she believes that rape accusers are ‘blamed‘ by society if they engage in sex while intoxicated.

However, some critics say that, as well intentioned as these new guidelines may be, what they do is place an undue bias in favour of the accuser and make it so that any man accused by a woman is more likely to be found guilty, even if this is not the case.

This ignores the very real possibility of false accusations and the fact that the majority of consensual sex has no evidence.

In order for men to be able to prove their innocence, are they really expected to record the consent for the act in question, which carries its own issues, or have their partner sign a legally-binding consent form?

Critics say these changes also neglect male victims of rape who are still not represented under the law and ignore female perpetrators, who, by the legal definition of the word rape, cannot exist. This law, by assuming the guilt of one demographic, and the innocence of another, is entirely sexist, and bigoted towards men.

This change in law will mean a greater number of convictions, but does it mean that the convicted will necessarily be guilty?

By making it the duty of the accused to prove their innocence, the guidelines have revoked the basic human right of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ for men.

This means that a false accusation is more likely to successfully result in prosecution of an innocent man.

The cost of a fair and free society is sometimes villains go free. If we incarcerate everyone accused, many innocents will suffer, and our freedom will be lost.