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Politics : Actual left/right wing discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (4683)	11/13/2006 3:30:50 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10087

Its hard to prove a charge is false (as opposed to just unsubstantiated, but sometimes it can happen. I'm not necessarily endorsing the scheme of giving someone the same punishment for a false charge as the defendant would have received if he was convicted. Like the blog poster I am fishing for comment on the idea.

To: TimF who wrote (4683)	11/13/2006 3:47:21 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10087

That issue is a very uphill battle; 1) The charges were dropped for lack of evidence. That in no way exonerates the accused. 2) It may have been a malicious allegation but that is not a crime unless slander can be proven, which is rare and even when it is, it is unlikely that there would be any meaningful consequence. 3) Many people lie about all sorts of things simply to cause harm to someone they have a grudge against, or even, just to get attention. Most third parties, including the courts, simply don't care. 4) At the seat of most criminal behavior lies some element of deceit. Even in non-criminal civil discord, lying is pervasive. That would make lying the most common of all problem behavior, criminal or otherwise. I have asked attorneys on this thread how frequent they think lying in court occurs. They tell us it is common. The charge of perjury is seldom brought. So ... what do we do about malicious lying?