We are calling for an end to the arrest and prosecution of women lying about rape.

What’s the problem?
For over 12 years WAR has worked with women in the UK who were prosecuted who did not lie. Some were imprisoned.
We have found help to defend themselves from prosecution for crimes such as perverting the course of justice or wasting police time.
There have been several miscarriages of justice - often following a negligent investigation. In some cases a woman was accused of injuring herself, and evidence of the crime had been disregarded, misinterpreted or destroyed.
In one case a 15-year-old woman won £20,000 compensation and the attacker was later jailed (read more). In another case a teenager was issued a fine for wasting police time; we helped her get the charge dropped.
A married woman was jailed for lying when she retracted her report of marital rape, and the authorities knew she’s been raped and prosecuted her for making a ‘false retraction’. She quickly appealed and her jail term was quashed so she was released. But the courts refused to quash her conviction, leaving her with a criminal record. We later helped her win criminal injuries compensation in a landmark case.
Sentences for false reports recently grew much harsher, and are disproportionate compared to other crimes.
As a policy, prosecuting women harshly for lying about rape has a chilling effect on the public who get a distorted impression of these cases, are blown out of proportion by sensationalist media. Also, criminal justice agencies are distracted into trying to catch someone out who might be lying. The reality is that the proportion of false allegations of rape is far lower than for other false reports, such as phone theft and insurance fraud. The prosecutions put victims off reporting, for fear of being disbelieved or even prosecuted.
What you can do . . .
- Share our campaigning materials
- Help us challenge this sexist policy. Stop the criminal justice system heaping blame onto individual women for the social myths about widespread false reports of rape.
- Write to your MP and the media. You can demand a change of policy. Some other countries do not have such a punitive approach eg in the US, they may just issue a fine or jail for a few months.
- Urge them to focus instead on the appalling falling convictions for rape of women and children. Rape has been de facto decriminalised while women are being sent to jail for allegedly lying. Domestic violence prosecutions are not much better.
See Report of Jail Rapists, Not Rape Victims public meeting in the House of Commons, which brought together a number of family justice campaigns.

Read more on False Allegations
Event: Victim-Suspect screening – “You’re sexually assaulted. You report. And police make you the suspect!”
Report of screening dramatic Netflix film ‘Victim-Suspect’, 15 May 2025 We have been encouraging people to watch this ground-breaking American documentary, and we’ve been organising screenings followed by guest speakers and Q&As. It’s a good way of informing people about the horrendous injustices which victims of sexual violence face both in the US and …
Event: WAR speaking after showing of film Victim/Suspect, 15 May 2025
The film 3.30pm: A US reporter discovers a pattern of women who reported sexual assault to police nationwide but were then charged with fabricating their allegations-sometimes facing prison. “You’re sexually assaulted. You report. And police make you the suspect!” University College London, Lecture Theatre G22, North West Wing, 136 Gower St., London WC1E …
Event: WAR speaking on panel after film Victim/Suspect
Thursday, February 13 Victim/Suspect: When Reporting Rape Becomes a Crime Film Screening and Panel Discussion with a speaker from Women Against Rape & others (below) Date and time: Thursday, 13 February: 6:30 – 9pm GMT Location: BLOC Cinema, Arts One Building, Queen Mary University of London, 327 Mile End Road London E1 4NS MAP Click …
Submission: Sentencing Council’s Consultation on Perverting the Course of Justice
Submission to Sentencing Council’s Consultation on Perverting the Course of Justice Guidelines 22 June 2022 Introduction WAR is a multiracial grassroots women’s organisation set up in 1976. It provides practical support to victims of all types of sexual and domestic violence, and it campaigns for changes in the systems of criminal justice, asylum and compensation. …
In the media: Keir Starmer’s record on rape
Keir Starmer’s record on rape Camden New Journal Letters 6 February 2020 The record on rape We take issue with the letter from MARTIN PLAUT of NW5 (‘Errors in attacks on Starmer’, January 30). He claims that rape “is one of the issues [Sir Keir] feels most strongly about and has worked on most assiduously. His determination has been …
In the media: Cyprus rape case – on the day before sentencing Women Against Rape points to similar outrageous cases in the UK
Cyprus rape case: on the day before sentencing Women Against Rape points to similar outrageous casesin the UK We share the outrage of women in Cyprus protesting against the conviction of a 19-year-old British woman who faces prison after reporting gang rape by 12 Israeli men in Ayia Napa. We welcome the UK government’s concern at the …
Evidence to Home Affairs Committee on Domestic Violence, 5 July 2018
Evidence to Home Affairs Committee on Domestic Violence, 5 July 2018 Summary: This evidence covers five key policy areas that result in increased vulnerability to domestic violence and lack of resources to escape violent men: Family courts and domestic violence Austerity cuts and domestic violence Destitution – a recipe for domestic violence The hostile environment …
Open Letter to Keir Starmer RE: Consultation on alleged false allegations of rape
Open Letter to Keir Starmer RE: Consultation on alleged false allegations of rape Submitted 2011 We strongly believe that the prosecution of women for alleged false allegations of rape is not in the public interest. This is because: ● It distracts from the true rape scandal that over 90% of rapists get away with it …