Butler column misinterprets statistics of rape reporting

I am writing this letter in response to Kristin Butler's article, "The worst, kept secret." The statistics she uses in her article refute her own conclusion that shielding rape victims' names from media publication, "creates a byproduct as serious as the problem it addresses," which is under-reported rape.

According to Butler, 84 percent of rapes are unreported. Thus, out of 100 rape victims, only 16 come forward to the authorities.

Butler also says that between 2 and 9 percent of rape allegations are false. Thus, for the 16 real allegations occurring due to the 100 rapes, there are .3 to 1.6 false accusations (for convenience, I will just round this to one person who is falsely accused for every 100 rape victims). Butler then concludes that this one person who is falsely accused creates a social problem as serious as the social problem created by the 84 rape victims who do not report the rape to authorities.

Even if one assumes that the consequences for a falsely accused victim are equivalent to the consequences felt by a rape victim, the sheer difference in numbers between the two groups refutes her conclusion.

Let me say this another way and assume that the rape allegations against the three Duke lacrosse players are false.

For these three false accusation victims, there are 300 real rape victims. Two hundred and fifty-two rapists will not be prosecuted because their victims will not report the rape to authorities.

Are these two problems then really equivalent?

This is not to deny that false allegations of rape are serious and should not be ignored and addressed. However, in jumping from that premise to her conclusion, Butler ignores her own statistics.