Falsely Accused of Child Abuse/Domestic
- Advice on what to do and the fact that you're not alone,
Let's first address the fact that the number of false reports pales to the amount of men and woman who are actually abused, but fail to report. That being said, though the number of false accusations are rare, it does a disservice to woman and men who are actually abused. Unfortunately, false accusations can also be used as a tool to gain custody of children, or make the person seem like he/she should receive more in a divorce settlement. Even conservative estimates estimate about 15-25% of all accusations stemming from child custody, or divorce proceedings, or standard residential reports are false, or not enough evidence. To combat this states have absorbed a "get tough on domestic abuse" plan in which mandatory arrests are made, and restraining orders are granted without cause. According to the Stop Abusive Violence Environment around 50% of restraining orders don't have any physical accusations, and 48/50 states must take into account allegations when deciding custody. Here are the numbers.
Domestic Violence
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A study of couples involved in custody disputes found that domestic violence allegations were made in 55% of the cases. Of these allegations, 59% could not be substantiated by the courts as true (1).
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An analysis of domestic violence restraining orders issued in 2006 in Campbell County, West Virginia concluded 81% were unnecessary or false (2).
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It is estimated that about 60% of the 2-3 million restraining orders issued annually are unnecessary or false. This translates into 1.2-1.8 million persons who are wrongfully accused of domestic violence each year under civil law (3).
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Only 30% of persons arrested for domestic violence are convicted of the offense (4). The 70% of persons not convicted of the offense can be viewed as representing the number of persons wrongfully detained each year.*
Child Abuse
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The Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect analyzed data from 7,672 child maltreatment investigations. Among the 798 cases of alleged sexual abuse, only 38% were substantiated (5).
If you find yourself a victim of false accusations there are multiple things you can do to increase your chance of proving the accusations are false, or discrediting the accuser. Click the link if you wish to be directed to get help.