Victim/Suspect

Good movie!

Good movie!

Good movie!

Good movie!

This is a heavily intense true account whereby a young reporter explains how the police can sometimes misuse their powers when investigating sex cases. A person makes an allegation of rape or sexual assault and instead of properly and fairly researching the case some police will incorrectly turn the tables and accuse the victim of making a false report and have that person prosecuted. Quite shocking how frequently this can happen. Also, what is disturbing is how the police are allowed to get away with lying to victims and persuading vulnerable people to admit they are the ones at fault when they are innocent. But then again I ask myself why are police allowed to pretend to be underage children and lie to adults to entice them into sting operations? Although this documentary could be made more exciting, the subject matter is well handled and worthy of a high rating. Six and a half rounded up: 7/10.

"Victim/Suspect", 2023 A good documentary can take on a very complicated subject and render it digestible within an acceptable viewing time. Sadly, I did not encounter this with "Victim/Suspect". The narrative became more complicated as it moved along, many repetitions and shots of our reporter at airports, in her room, etc. This wasted time. As it went along, her editorial board kept widening the scope, not narrowing it. Also, the reporter assured the viewer how "unbiased" she was going to be, i.e. Sitting as a neutral before all the facts and such. That is a load of horse feathers, plus I don't care if she is biased-who would not be?! The documentary drifted into the tedious zone and lost me. One thing this elderly, male viewer can conclude, any woman accursing someone of rape better have an advocate with her at a minimum (better if they are an attorney)-anywhere in the country. In Alabama, however, they should call in the reincarnated versions of Clarence Darrow and Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

Despite the ones who gave this a low score, probably because their either incompetant police or they are more focused on trival matters instead of the big picture that these women were assaulted and the lazy or corrupt legal system let them down and jailed them for daring to report a crime commited on them, there are a lot of documentaries on how lazy, stupid and corrupt american law enforcement is and how corrupt the legal system in America is, and i don't think it will change till they get properly educated and trained officers in the police force, and start to fine the incompetant ones, the same with the prosecuters who with hold eveidance so they can win a case on a lie.

In typical Netflix fashion the title says it all. It baits and switches you into thinking that for once society will hold women accountable and take responsibility in the lies false accusers make in men and are then given a slap on the wrist. The reporter already had her mind made up that she was going to debunk instead of reporting on false accusers going free. Netflix completely misses the mark here and tries its hardest to clear the accusers names even though they knew what they had said was false truths. If these girls are so adamant that they are innocent then why plea guilty? Also noticed that they never brought up cases like Shawn Oakman, Brian Banks and the most recent Matt Ariaza but they're men so they are guilty in their eyes.

This documentary explains a social phenomenon that I have always wondered about. I've always been curious as to why when the topic of sexual assault is brought up, there are numerous people who say yes, but false allegations can ruin lives and this is much more of a problem than sexual assault is. In the United States at least, there is a disturbing yet simple explanation for this. This is the fact that police officers are under a lot of pressure to close investigations because an investigation which leads to a conviction is seen as a success for them. This coupled with the fact that sexual assault claims are very difficult to investigate makes it ironically much easier to frame the whole thing as a false allegation, and in many places false allegations are actually criminal offenses. The documentary does a good job of examining many situations in which the police seem to have just decided it was easier to charge the woman with a false allegation than actually investigate the claims. Another problem that the documentary mentions is the fact that police are under no obligation to tell the truth in an investigation, so sometimes they will straight up lie to a woman who is coming forward with a claim of sexual assault and because she is in a vulnerable position she will feel like yes they must be telling the truth, and then you have the same problem with false recantations as there is with false confessions. So the social phenomenon of people decrying false allegations as being a plague comes from this fact. And the fact that in addition to everything I just mentioned, often these cases are prominently featured in the media with headlines like 'woman falsely claims rape'. The problem, if it isn't obvious by now, is that the initial claims are often never actually investigated. If you are a detective, and you feel that someone is lying to you, I think you need to be under an obligation to try to remain objective and investigate the claims fully anyway. And if you are of the crowd that believes that false allegations destroy lives, well not believing true allegations also destroys lives. And I think this is a case where the police and investigators do not necessarily need to be open with the media until a charge has actually been laid because that's part of the problem too. There's a difference between being investigated for something, charged for something, and being convicted of something. So I know it would take a lot to reconsider how the media thinks about reporting on crime, but in my personal opinion it would be better if crimes were reported when there was a conviction, not before. Then with a full investigation you can decide to lay a charge of sexual assault or a charge of a false allegation and both with a thorough investigation would be justified depending on the situation. Despite having told you most of the theory of this film it still worth watching for the personal examples that are given in it. It's one of the rare documentaries that has the ability to change minds.

All this documentary did is reinforce,how broken the system remains. Honestly all victims need to bring legal counsel with them,this only proves that immensely. What is further scary.. Will make attackers feel invincible,because police are so lazy doing a proper investigation. It begs the question do many get in law enforcement/official capacities for wrong reasons,basically protecting"boys will be boys"club or being able to bully but calling it interrogation & so forth? Not saying females in power positions are any better,some will be just as cruel if not worse. All that was missing,if you would of dressed different garbage.. Beyond sickening & typical gaslight excuses,done by those in charge of sex crimes. I feel worried for those who are future victims,that fail to come forward as a result of seeing this. Hoping law enforcement change their tactics,but feel that will never happen but instead cover things up more.. Tapes that interrogate victims,etc. Again.. Bring someone with that "you" trust & will advocate on your behalf,not just from a victims group especially if police recommended. -Some are shady & on the wrong side,of actually helping victims. Hope those in charge or having power,start making their communities safer. Some may ask.. If someone reports a crime,why eventually falter? Not what many perhaps think,where guilt of lying comes to surface.. Instead it's being worn down by a system,that should be fair & protect. Most cases the investigation into the victim is greater than a person accused,so any outcome isn't factual but biased & again.. Causes a victim,to be further harmed. A reviewer mentioned she was upset about not having,stories that included African Americans.. Perhaps it was because nobody of that ethnicity wanted to be documented on camera or was not just about representing sex crime victims,but more specifically certain law enforcement agencies handling of cases. Still.. Watch this including with your daughters to teach them,how to protect themselves not just from attackers but legally.