This petition was submitted during the 2015–2017 Conservative government

Rejected petition To make (malicious) false-accusation of rape a criminal offence

When a person is proven to have falsely accused a person of rape, it should then be decided whether this was, beyond all reasonable doubt, with malicious intent. If so, the accuser's identity should then be revealed and the accuser should face criminal charges.

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People that falsely accuse others of rape discredit the true victims, who deserve justice.

People who have been falsely accused of rape, have their identities revealed to the public, whilst the accuser remains anonymous. We do not feel that this is correct.

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

It’s not clear what the petition is asking the UK Government or Parliament to do.

We're not sure exactly what you would like the UK Government or Parliament to do.

Your petition asks for the law to be changed so that people who make false accusations of rape are publicly exposed.Making a false allegation of a crime may already in some circumstances lead to a jail sentence - for example, if someone is found guilty of perverting the course of justice. In other cases, people who are accused of making false accusations may be prosecuted for wasting police time. These prosecutions would expose the person's identity to the public.

It is not therefore clear to us how you would like the law to be changed. You could start a new petition asking for a specific change to the law.

You may find this guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service helpful:

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/perverting_the_course_of_justice_-_rape_and_dv_allegations/

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.