False Accusations

False accusations due to anger, jealousy, revenge, recovered memory, prosecutorial pressures or any other factors can be devastating to an individual accused of a California sex crime. Because sex crimes are among the most despised and feared offenses, juries are especially eager to convict those individuals who are accused of committing them. Issues like this make it vital for the accused to hire a criminal attorney who specializes in California sex crime defense, who knows the most effective ways to prove that false allegations are exactly that, and who can convince the jury that the accused has been unjustly thrown into an overzealous criminal court system.

False accusations can stem from a number of factors. Domestic violence statistics reveal that vengeful partners involved in intimate relationships initiate false charges out of anger, revenge, jealously or in an effort to take control over a child custody dispute. Regardless of whether the charges are eventually retracted or denied, the accused individual’s life has, most likely, been turned upside down by such allegations. Many report losing their families, friends and jobs as the result of false charges.

Recovered memory is another issue that leads people to initiate false charges of sexual assault or abuse. Recovered or repressed memory is a memory (typically of a traumatic environment or event or series of events), which is stored by one’s unconscious mind outside the awareness of his or her conscious mind. It is believed that these memories can be retrieved years or even decades later either through therapy or dreams. The problem is that these so-called memories can also be fantasies, depicting or describing situations or events that never actually occurred. False memories can be triggered or implanted by suggestion, making those who suffer emotional problems particularly vulnerable to therapists who believe that childhood sexual abuse is the explanation for such issues. Unfortunately, those who experience this phenomenon aren’t intentionally lying and, in fact, sincerely believe their allegations.

Medical and psychological communities have some serious doubts about recovered memory, because research suggests that traumatic events are likely to be intrusive and persistent within one’s mind and not repressed like this theory suggests. As a result, judges and juries must be cautioned when dealing with sex crimes that are based on recovered memories. These types of cases must also be more heavily scrutinized since no allegations were reported at the time of the alleged offense(s).

Prosecutorial pressures are another reason that false allegations are often pursued. There were several highly publicized child sexual abuse cases from the 1980s and 1990s that led to overturned convictions because of overzealous prosecution. One of the lessons that criminal defense lawyers and courts have learned is that it is easy for an untrained or overeager investigator to elicit false allegations from children, and to obtain false confessions from those accused of sex crimes. By making false promises to a child eager to see his or her parents or to a parent, convincing him or her that confessing to such an incident will successfully put it in the past, the prosecutorial team actually jeopardizes the case and conviction.

A skilled, savvy defense attorney knows that he or she must employ common sense when looking at the facts of a case. He or she knows that children are, unfortunately, capable of lying, and are especially vulnerable to being pressured or persuaded to tell stories that aren’t based entirely (if at all) on the truth. The experienced criminal defense attorney knows to inquire about witnesses and their reliability, to inquire about the child, to independently examine any physical evidence (if present) and to make sure that all evidence is based in logic and science.

The experienced defense lawyers at The Kavinoky Law Firm know the ways to effectively convey to a judge and jury that a client falsely accused of a sex crime must be acquitted. The compassionate attorneys are dedicated to protecting the rights of the falsely accused and know what it takes to win. For the most trusted legal advice, contact The Kavinoky Law Firm today for a free consultation.

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Charges | Penalties | Sex crimes against children | Misdemeanors vs. felonies