A Canadian judge was very angry this month for a very odd reason — a man who admitted he wrongfully accused his wife of assaulting him was arrested and jailed for several days. Judge Dianne Nicholas railed against prosecutors, arguing that the man should not have spent a night in jail!
Nicholas’ reasoning is straightforward. She told prosecutors that routinely sees women recant claims of assault against men, and yet such women are not arrested. Why should the policy be any different when it is a man who is making up the allegation? The Ottawa Citizen quoted Nicholas as “fuming” that,
It smacked to me of discrimination on the basis of gender. Women lie every day. Every day women in (domestic) court say ‘I made it up. I’m lying. It didn’t happen’ — and they’re not charged with obstruct …
Although this might seem like a blow in favor of sexual equality, this writer has to wonder about the effects of not imposing any sort of punishment at all on men or women who make up false allegations of assault or abuse. How can we possibly trust that such allegations are genuine if there is no penalty for making up a false allegation?
Spending a few days in jail might do a lot of good for people who admit making false allegations, regardless of their sex.
Source:
Gender-bias issue raises ‘optics’ problem in domestic court. Dave Brown, The Ottawa Citizen, February 21, 2002.