Rape in Durham

The decision to drop charges against the Duke Lacrosse players comes as a surprise to no one. The case against them was tough. Like almost all rape cases, you have nothing to go on but the testimony of the woman. In most cases society is keen to believe the man. So society immediately attacks the woman's credibility. And once she is found incredible, the case against the man collapses.

Still, studies show that 1 in 4 or even 1 in 3 women are raped in their lifetimes. That's a lot of rape. So you would think that society would have an interest in trying to protect women from all this rape.

Instead, the Duke case has radio and TV personalities wondering why the woman isn't being prosecuted. That's rich. Given that charges brought against men rarely stick, and that we may start prosecuting woman who bring charges against men that don't stick, we should ask, would any woman ever bring charges against any man again.

The result would be to make rape virtually legal.

I don't know what happened that night in Durham. It does not bother me that the Duke Lacrosse team lost its season. It does bother me that our society is so worried about lacrosse players playing lacrosse that there is public outcry to start prosecuting women who accuse men of rape.