Summary: James Behan is a PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin, and a spokesperson for <a href="http://mensvoices2016.com/" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">Men’s Voices Ireland</a>. He is also a staff writer for Trinity’s <a href="http://www.universitytimes.ie/" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">University Times</a>.<br> In our discussion, James referred to <a href="http://repository.wit.ie/2825/1/thesis_ROS_WITLIB_201405final.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">a study by Dr Roisin O’Shea</a> which indicates a poor quality of decision-making in custody cases in Irish Circuit Courts.<br> James has written for the University Times about <a href="http://www.universitytimes.ie/2016/06/male-victims-of-intimate-partner-violence-are-ignored-in-the-irish-system/" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">men suffering from domestic violence</a> (be it from male or female partners) and the lack of services for them.<br> He has also written about the <a href="http://www.universitytimes.ie/2016/05/the-spectre-of-male-suicide-masculinity-isnt-the-problem-our-attitude-towards-it-is/?doing_wp_cron=1463404756.9180440902709960937500" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">huge imbalance in the suicide rate</a> (80 per cent of the people who die by suicide are male), and its causes.<br> In the discussion I raised the claim, since removed, on the Men’s Voices website that, in Ireland “at least nine per cent of rape cases are provably false” (emphasis in original). The claim was sourced to <a href="http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/irish-news/ireland-has-highest-rate-of-false-rape-allegations-26532287.html" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">this snippet from the Irish Independent</a>, which <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.473.8230&rep=rep1&type=pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">appears to be based on this study.</a> which does not support the claim; James supplied this link, I was not able to find it before the recording.<br> At the time of writing, the Men’s Voices website <a href="http://blog.hereshow.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/mens_voices_website.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-wpel-link="internal">still approvingly cites a claim</a> that 90 per cent of rape allegations in Spain are false, using as its source a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjgBfklmYj8" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">Youtube video</a> of unclear origin. During the discussion, I referred to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=false+rape+compilation" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">the large volume of Youtube videos</a> (not produced by James or MCI) which seem to be designed to exaggerate the occurrence of false and vindictive rape accusations. ***Update*** James has been in touch to point out that he is not the webmaster and personally distances himself from the statistics on this page.<br> The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/mar/13/false-allegations-rape-domestic-violence-rare" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">statistics that I sourced</a> come from the UK’s <a href="http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/research/perverting_course_of_justice_march_2013.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">Crown Prosecution Service</a>. In an extensive study, the CPS identified 35 prosecutions for false allegations of rape in a period when there were 5,651 prosecutions for rape and 111,891 for domestic violence, (0.6 per cent of the rape prosecutions).<br> In the US, the <a href="https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/1996/96sec2.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">FBI reports that the number of unfounded reports of rape</a> runs at eight per cent of the total number of rape reports (a figure close to the one originally on the Men’s Voices website), however this is the proportion of reports judged to be unfounded, not to accusations against supposed perpetrators. The <a href="http://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/rape-sexual-violence/pages/rape-notification.aspx" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">US Bureau of Justice Statistics reports</a> that only 36 percent of rapes, 34 percent of attempted rapes, and 26 percent of sexual assaults were reported, meaning that the ratio of false reports (not accusations) to actual rapes is between two and 2.5 per cent.<br> I cited the case of <a href="http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/people-queued-to-shake-this-sex-attackers-ha...%5D%5D" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer"> </a> is the political correspondent of <a href="https://twitter.com/TodayFMNews" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">TodayFM</a>.<br> You can nominate the <a href="https://blogawardsireland.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/login/10?returnUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fblogawardsireland.secure-platform.com%2Fa%2Fsolicitations%2Fhome%2F10" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">Here’s How podcast for the Blog Awards Ireland here</a>.<a href="https://blogawardsireland.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/login/10?returnUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fblogawardsireland.secure-platform.com%2Fa%2Fsolicitations%2Fhome%2F10" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer"></a><br>
