False accusation

A false accusation is a claim or allegation of wrongdoing that is untrue and/or otherwise unsupported by facts.^[1] False accusations are also known as groundless accusations or unfounded accusations or false allegations or false claims. They can occur in any of the following contexts:

• Informally in everyday life
• Quasi-judicially
• Judicially

Types

When there is insufficient supporting evidence to determine whether it is true or false, an accusation is described as "unsubstantiated" or "unfounded". Accusations that are determined to be false based on corroborating evidence can be divided into three categories:^[2]

• A completely false allegation, in that the alleged events did not occur.
• An allegation that describes events that did occur, but were perpetrated by an individual who is not accused, and in which the accused person is innocent.
• An allegation that is false, in that it mixes descriptions of events that actually happened with other events that did not occur.

A false allegation can occur as the result of

When a person is suspected of a wrongdoing for which they are in fact responsible, "false accusation may be used to divert attention from one's own guilt".[4] False accusation may also arise in part from the conduct of the accused, particularly where the accused engages in behaviors consistent with having committed the suspected wrongdoing, either unconsciously or for purposes of appearing guilty.^[4]

Additionally, once a false accusation has been made – particularly an emotionally laden one – normal human emotional responses to being falsely accused (such as fear, anger, or denial of the accusation) may be misinterpreted as evidence of guilt.^{[citation needed]}

Statistics

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2022)

In Japan in 2020, at least 33 people (21 males and 12 females) were arrested for false accusation.^[7]

Rape

A false accusation of

A false allegation of child sexual abuse is an accusation that a person committed one or more acts of child sexual abuse when in reality there was no perpetration of abuse by the accused person as alleged. Such accusations can be brought by the victim, or by another person on the alleged victim's behalf. Studies of child abuse allegations suggest that the overall rate of false accusation is under 10%, as approximated based on multiple studies.^{[2][13][14][15]} Of the allegations determined to be false, only a small portion originated with the child, the studies showed; most false allegations originated with an adult bringing the accusations on behalf of a child, and of those, a large majority occurred in the context of divorce and child-custody battles.^[2][16]

Workplace bullying

According to a 2003 survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute, the most common bullying tactics included false attribution of "errors" to an employee, glaring or other hostile body language, dismissive comments, the "silent treatment", and/or making up arbitrary "rules" to ensure that a victim breaks them.^[17]

Workplace mobbing

Workplace mobbing can be considered as a "virus" or a "cancer" that spreads throughout the workplace via

The case has been made that diagnoses of Münchausen syndrome by proxy, that is harming someone else in order to gain attention for oneself, are often false or highly questionable.[19]

Stalking

In 1999, Pathe, Mullen, and Purcell wrote that popular interest in stalking was promoting false claims.^[20] In 2004, Sheridan and Blaauw said that they estimated that 11.5% of claims in a sample of 357 reported claims of stalking were false.^[21]

Murder

In the mid 2000, LAPD arrested a young man Juan Catalan after a little girl was shot dead. Catalan was sentenced to death after a witness stated that he looked like the killer. Catalan turned out to be innocent; it was a television show (Curb Your Enthusiasm) which showed him seated at a baseball game, thus exonerating him. A documentary was later produced about the event.^[22][23]

See also

References