False Criminal Accusations & Evidence Fabrication

FALSE CRIMINAL ACCUSATIONS & EVIDENCE FABRICATION

KNOWINGLY FABRICATED SEXUAL-ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS

Real victims of rape and sexual assault must be able to report safely, receive trauma-informed treatment, preserve evidence, obtain protection, and have allegations investigated seriously and impartially.

A person who knowingly and intentionally fabricates a material allegation of rape or sexual assault, or deliberately manufactures material evidence to cause another person to be investigated, prosecuted, punished, expelled, fired, or publicly condemned, should be subject to the same generally applicable false-reporting, perjury, obstruction, evidence-tampering, fraud, or defamation laws that govern comparable conduct.

Liability requires proof of deliberate fabrication under the ordinary burden applicable to the proceeding. A delayed report, incomplete memory, trauma response, inconsistency, recantation, inability to prove the underlying offense, dismissal, acquittal, or a good-faith but mistaken identification does not by itself establish a knowingly false allegation.

Investigators must not threaten complainants merely because a case is difficult to prove. Decisions to pursue a false-report charge should receive documented prosecutorial review designed to prevent retaliation against genuine victims and witnesses.

False Criminal Accusations

Knowingly Fabricated Criminal Allegations

A person should not be punished merely because an accusation cannot be proven.

Good-faith reporting must remain protected.

However, knowingly fabricating a material criminal accusation against an innocent person and intentionally causing it to be reported to police, prosecutors, courts, employers, licensing authorities, or similar institutions should be a criminal offense.

This may include knowingly false accusations of:

• rape;

• domestic violence;

• child abuse;

• assault;

• theft;

• harassment;

• other crimes.

Penalties should increase where the false accusation causes:

• arrest;

• incarceration;

• loss of custody;

• loss of employment;

• severe financial harm;

• fabricated evidence;

• imprisonment of an innocent person.

False Accusation Penalties and Procedure

The offense requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knew a material criminal allegation was false, intended another person to be treated as a criminal suspect, and communicated the fabrication to police, prosecutors, courts, employers, licensing authorities, or another institution reasonably expected to act on it. A report that is mistaken, inconsistent, uncorroborated, withdrawn, or not proven is not enough.

• A knowing fabrication that causes no arrest or comparable major harm may be punished as a misdemeanor carrying up to one year of incarceration.

• The offense becomes a felony carrying up to five years when the defendant fabricates evidence or the accusation foreseeably causes arrest, pretrial detention, loss of custody, loss of employment, or comparable severe harm.

• A sentence of up to ten years may be authorized when the fabrication causes an innocent person to be imprisoned for more than one year, causes serious bodily injury, or is part of a conspiracy involving forged evidence or bribed witnesses.

• Courts may order restitution, correction of records, and reimbursement of provable losses. Sentencing must account for recantation before official action, cooperation, actual harm, and the defendant's intent.

• Good-faith complainants, witnesses, and victims remain protected from prosecution merely because a case is declined, dismissed, acquitted, or cannot be proven.

Related policies: Courts, Trials, Appeals & Timely Justice; Law Enforcement; Criminal Justice, Prison, Jail & Detention Reform; Personal Rights & Freedoms; Government Integrity & Equal Justice.

Status: Proposed / Draft — not yet formally adopted.

Originally published: August 15, 2026 (as part of Criminal Justice, Prison, Jail & Detention Reform).

Last updated: September 25, 2026.

Version: Draft 0.1.