I think they got it right. Victims can apply to be reimbersed, but presumably, only if their allegations turn out to be true.
One of the things that bothered me the most about my false rape accusation (FRA) is that there was no financial disinsentive for her to attempt to ruin my life. She was interviewed by 3 state troopers (a regular team of two, plus a female trooper who was called in especially for this.) Paramedics took her by ambulance to an Emergency Room, where she was rushed ahead of people who actually needed medical attention. Again, an additional staff member had to be brought in---a SANE nurse. Evidence was collected, and transported by yet another State Trooper to the Crime Lab, where lab specialists began to carefully examine, classify, preserve and file this evidence, which would soon be joined by several more large boxes of evidence taken from my house the next day by yet another team of Troopers. A local police officer had been assigned to keep me and my home under survelence overnight, until a the prosecutor and a judge arrived at the courthouse the next day to discuss the case and get a search warrent. I was arrested, transported to the county jail, and held against my will for 47 hours in an overcrowded cell (To make room for me, a gasoline thief was released).
My car was towed to the crime lab and impounded, and held for $125.00 ransom. When they let me have it back after driving a rental car around for a few days, it had swatches of upholstry cut out. And the battery was dead. Fingerprint dust was all over the interior, including the steering wheel, presumably proving that I'd been driving my own car.
My handgun, which had never been mentioned in the accusation, was pried from a locked box in my home, and sent to Quantico Virginia to be test-fired, so that if it ever had been used in any other crime (or ever would be in the future), ballistic evidence would be on file.
And of course, I, who now needed a lawyer, had to hire one.
She, who did not need a lawyer, was assigned a team of them.
After she was gently interviewed twice more by State Police Detectives (a male/female team in which they played good cop/nice cop), a finding was issued: Bi-polar disease or the medication used to treat it, was responsible for her making an allegation against me, which the crime lab had proven to be false. She was asked not to do it again, and driven home. I was released from the jail, into a snowstorm, penniless and coatless, with orders to return by the end of the day with the $15 that I now owed the sheriff for two aspirin and a decongetant tablet, which I'd asked for, and mugshots and fingerprinting, which I didn't ask for.
I walked home in the snow, and threw a rock through my window to get inside my ransacked house (my keys had been impounded with my car.)
Total cost to me:
Just under $5,000
Total cost to the taxpayers:
Just under $50,000
Total cost to the False Accuser:
$0
The "free" detective work, "free" legal team hours, "free" rides, and "free" medical treatment you can get with an FRA?
Priceless!
So yes.
Charge accusers for Rape Kits.
Charge them in advance.
Charge them double.
If the accusation is genuine, she can recover the money.
If it's bogus, there will at least be some money left over to help defray the costs imposed on the falsely accused.
--Ray
