People don’t generally like to think about sex crimes and what can happen when someone accuses you of one of them. They have the potential to mess your life up dramatically since the police and the justice system take them very seriously. However, just because someone has accused you of one, that does not necessarily mean that you are guilty of it.
Let’s look at five problematic situations right now and what you can do if someone accuses you.
Faulty Computer Crime Analysis
You should know how serious sex crimes are. For instance, in Arizona, you can get a one-year presumptive prison term for the lowest felony sex offense level. There’s nothing wrong with harsh sex offense prison sentences unless you’re innocent of the accused crime.
Faulty computer crime analysis is a particularly bad one. This might occur when you use a file-sharing website.
You might go to one of these sites, see a video or some music that you’d like to have, and then you click the “browse all” button. That might be what causes you to download child pornography without your knowledge.
If you click on a particular video, it might take you to an area that you didn’t expect that has pornographic images. Even if you didn’t want those images, they might now be on your computer. Some of them can even be child pornography, and you’d never be aware of it.
If this ever happens to you, you need to contact a lawyer who can defend you against these charges.
Tainted Evidence
Also, in the computer crimes arena, the police might suspect that you possess child pornography, and they’ll clone your hard drive to take it into evidence. When they do that, they sometimes clone the hard drive incorrectly. A situation might also arise where someone other than you, the defendant, had computer access.
Also, there are sometimes Wi-Fi issues where a neighbor will piggyback on your Wi-Fi and start downloading child porn or soliciting minors for sex acts. If any of this happens, you could face serious charges, and you’ll need a lawyer’s help.
Child Suggestibility
Committing a sex act with a minor is a horrendous crime, and the police should undoubtedly arrest those who are guilty of it. However, they might accuse you of such a crime when you know that you are not guilty.
Sometimes, when the police question a child, that child’s suggestibility comes into play. There is something that psychologists call “False Memory Syndrome.” A child will claim to remember something that never actually took place.
As it turns out, if you ask a very young child something like whether an adult touched their privates, often, they will answer yes, even if that never occurred. You’ll need a lawyer who can contact a Forensic Child Interviewer. They can question the child rather than a well-meaning friend, relative, or police officer who might get a false abuse confirmation.
Untrue “Me Too” Allegations
The “Me Too” movement is important because it has exposed many serial predators, such as Harvey Weinstein, Louis CK, and Kevin Spacey. Many celebrities took advantage of their status to get away with questionable or abhorrent behavior over the years.
If someone tries to take advantage of the “Me Too” movement and bring a false accusation against you, that could destroy your life. You’ll need to hire a lawyer who can vigorously defend you.
A situation might arise, such as when you have consensual sex with someone, but then they later regret that action, and they accuse you of rape. You can often fight those charges using social media posts and other evidence that consensual sex occurred rather than anything forced.
Custody Battle False Accusations
Custody battles can get ugly fast. One parent wants a child or multiple children to live with them, and they’re angry at the other parent. Sometimes, a parent will do or say just about anything so they can retain child custody.
That parent might bring a false child abuse or endangerment allegation against the other. It’s a horrible situation, and if it happens to you, you need to retain an attorney who can fight those charges. If you love your children, and you know you’d never harm them, you need to prove that so they can continue living with you.
In all these situations and others, you’ll need to find a lawyer to represent your best interests in court as you combat the false allegations.