PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Teri Stoddard
Email: tstoddard@saveservices.org
Phone: 301-801-0608
After Fake-Rape Video Goes Viral, SAVE Hosts False Allegations Summit
WASHINGTON, June 28, 2012 — Three weeks after release of a video of Wanetta Gibson confessing to a false claim of rape, Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is hosting a conference in Washington DC devoted to the problem of false allegations. The widely-viewed video was first aired during an NBC-affiliate news broadcast and then featured in a June 8 LA Times article: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/06/brian-banks-accuser-money-wanetta-gibson.html
The video features Gibson making the admission, “No, he did not rape me.” She also stated to Brian Banks, the man she had falsely accused, “I will go through with helping you, but it’s like at the same time all that money they gave us, I mean gave me, I don’t want to have to pay it back.”
The False Allegations Summit, to be held on June 30, will feature presentations and workshops on how to survive and prevent false allegations of abuse. Presenters include persons who have been wrongfully accused of abuse.
A recent report from the Urban Institute estimates that as many as 15% of people found guilty in sexual assault cases in Virginia had been wrongfully convicted: http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/state-news/2012/jun/19/tdmain01-study-up-to-15-percent-of-va-sex-assault-ar-1997082.
“Almost daily we get reports of women who make false allegations, of men who are wrongfully arrested or expelled from college, and of persons who are exonerated after serving years in prison,” notes SAVE spokesman Philip Cook. “Alarm bells should be ringing, lawmakers should be holding hearings, and bar associations should be ordering ethics probes.”
Rape is No Joke, a victim advocacy group, has charged that “Enormous damages are done by making a false allegation of rape.” New York Post Andrea Peyser columnist laments that false accusations represent a “huge problem for future rape victims.” And Justice Enriques has decried that “False complaints of rape necessarily impact upon the minds of jurors trying rape cases.”
The conference location and schedule can be viewed here: http://www.saveservices.org/dvlp/annual-conference-2012/june-30-dvlp-meeting. Presenters will be available for interviews.
One in 10 persons has been falsely accused of sexual assault, domestic violence, or child abuse: http://www.saveservices.org/falsely-accused/survey. June is False Allegations Awareness Month.
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is a victim-advocacy organization working for evidence-based solutions to partner abuse: www.saveservices.org