False rape allegations like the Duke scandal aren’t common enough to justify withholding support from victims, advocates say

By Alaa Elassar, CNN

(CNN) — When Katie Koestner was a college freshman, a boy she liked took her out to dinner. They went on a few more dates, she says, until one night, after going back to her college campus dorm, he ignored her pleas and raped her.

Up until that point, Koestner was a quiet girl, who rarely spoke out to defend herself when she was mocked or taken advantage of. But this time, she found her voice.

The dean of her university, The College of William & Mary in Virginia, steered her away from filing a police report, she says. The man she accused of assaulting her was found guilty in a university investigation but was allowed to stay on campus. For years, Koestner says, she faced backlash for going public with her story.

Koestner and other sexual assault victim advocates are now issuing reminders of the dangers of dismissing and discrediting rape allegations in light of the latest development in the 2006 Duke scandal.

More than 18 years after accusing three now-former Duke University lacrosse players of raping her, an account she shared in graphic detail, Crystal Mangum admitted in an interview published Wednesday that she lied about the encounter.

Mangum apologized to the men for fabricating a story in which she said she was trapped inside a bathroom, sexually assaulted and raped by three players at a team party where she was performing as an exotic dancer. The men were arrested following her allegations.

“This was a really damaging instance that hurt those boys’ lives and impacted them for decades, so I don’t want to downplay how tragic it is from that perspective, but I do hope that people put it into context of this is far from the norm,” says Scott Berkowitz, president of non-profit anti-sexual violence organization Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN).

“For every false report, there is a far greater number of reports both that are truthful and people who experienced rape who never reported. That’s a much bigger national problem.”

A study published by the journal Violence Against Women in 2010 found that false allegations of sexual assault range from between 2% to 10% of assaults reported. A majority of sexual assaults, an estimated 63%, are never reported to the police, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

“Crystal’s case was a high-profile case so many people might hear just about her case and a few others, and then misperceive the amount of false reports to be much higher than it really is,” Koestner, who is now the founder of anti-sexual violence nonprofit Take Back The Night, told CNN.

“We should take each case as one situation and not make assumptions about those involved. The Duke case is one of millions. I hear about 10 stories from victims each day I speak at a school — no matter whether it is Princeton or a public high school in Texas.”

Rare cases like the Duke scandal, victims’ advocates like Koestner say, might discourage victims from reporting sexual assault and cause people to wrongly doubt them.

“False reports hurt not only the people falsely accused, they hurt every rape victim,” Jennifer Simmons Kaleba, vice president of communications for RAINN, told CNN. “There are already too many victims who do not report the crime for fear of not being believed. After a false report in such a high-profile case, even more survivors may be reluctant to come forward out of fear that law enforcement will not believe them.”

The consequences of silencing victims

Survivors of sexual assault and rape often grapple with a range of fears when considering whether to report the crime. Many worry they won’t be believed, that law enforcement won’t take their case seriously, or that their personal history will be used against them. Others are concerned about professional repercussions, having their motives questioned, seeing their reputations tarnished, and losing their privacy.

“False reports like this case really exacerbate that problem,” Berkowitz told CNN.

Experts say it is crucial for the mental health and recovery of rape victims to feel comfortable reporting their assault and getting help. Victims who have supportive friends and family will have a much better, quicker road to healing, Berkowitz says.

The safety of both communities and society as a whole is also dependent on victims reporting their assaults, ensuring that perpetrators are held accountable and prosecuted.

“From a justice standpoint, a really significant percentage of rapists are serial criminals, and so when someone reports it and there’s a prosecution, it will statistically better prevent rapes in the future and protect others from being sexually assaulted,” Berkowitz said.

Many victims keep the trauma to themselves and don’t even tell those closest to them what happened, which can have a significant long-term impact on their health.

Many survivors often struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for years after the assault, Berkowitz said.

Rape victims are also significantly more likely to later have drug- and alcohol-related problems and experience mental health issues like depression and anxiety. Rape victims are 13 times more likely than non-crime victims to attempt suicide, according to a study by the National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center.

“Rape is very similar to other types of trauma and the effects that it has on someone,” Berkowitz said. “It’s not something that anyone ever forgets or completely moves past, but we want to see victims heal to a point where they can continue living their lives and continue to devote the time to family and to work as they as they should be.”

Victims can receive mental health support from resources including the National Sexual Assault hotline or from professional therapists. Those who have friends and family who believe them and are there for them as they navigate through the recovery process also have better chances at recovery, Berkowitz said.

Koestner was 18 when she was on the cover of Time magazine in 1991 as one of the first women to publicly speak out about being a victim of date rape – sexual assaults in which there was a form of romantic relationship between the victim and assailant.

“My assaulter was found guilty in my campus hearing and told not to go in my dorm for a semester as his punishment. It was the lack of accountability that caused me to speak out,” Koestner said. “That led to more interviews and helped me let others know that rape can happen to anyone.”

Thousands of students signed a petition alleging she lied. Her car was covered with honey and baby powder, she was voted “the most dangerous man on campus,” and derogatory words were written about her on the walls of some women’s bathrooms on campus – but still, she was not silenced.

“Speaking out about what happened helped me turn the trauma into a purpose: raising awareness of any problem is the first step toward prevention,” Koestner said.

The College of William & Mary later changed its policy to require school officials to suspend students found guilty of sexual assault.

There are more than 433,000 cases of sexual assault or rape annually in the US among people aged 12 and older, according to 2015 data from RAINN. Every 68 seconds, another American is sexually assaulted, RAINN data from 2020 shows.

Kaleba said she encourages people to consider the victims of rape or sexual assault in the US who may now face renewed disbelief and question the value of reporting sexual violence.

“Don’t allow infrequent, false reporting to stand in the way of standing with survivors,” Kaleba said.

Editor’s note: Anyone affected by sexual violence can reach out to the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit online.rainn.org to receive support via confidential online chat.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.