These stereotypes and myths have led to a society that typically shifts its critical focus from the rapist to the victim. Women who claim rape are viewed with some degree of skepticism. Challenges to rape victims' credibility have been common in the courtroom and community, even though very little empirical evidence suggests that victims frequently make false accusations. One study that did report a high false rape allegation rate was based on a procedure that required each woman to submit to a polygraph test (
Kanin, 1994). The literature suggests that polygraph tests are not only inconclusive, especially for rape victims who often experience high levels of fear and anxiety following an assault, but are also mentally distressing and unwarranted (
Sloan, 1995). Thus, it is not surprising that 41% of the women in this study recanted their rape allegations upon confrontation with such a test, even though it is unclear whether these women falsely recanted true allegations in an effort to escape a distressing and distrusting situation. Other studies that did not use such methodology have found that only 2–4% of victims falsely allege that rape has occurred, which is the same estimate of false allegations for other crimes (
Katz & Mazur, 1979). Courts have also acknowledged that victims rarely file false reports and that there are powerful disincentives to reporting a rape (
Fischer, 1989). Indeed, studies show that only 16% of rape victims report to the police (
Kilpatrick, Seymour, & Edmonds, 1992), establishing rape as one of the most underreported crimes in the United States (
Koss et al., 1994).
