that he couldn’t bring felony charges against Russell because “existing laws only allow the two [misdemeanor] charges that were filed.” And while Weaver is a Republican, legislation to punish false reporting of kidnapping has some bipartisan support in the Alabama legislature: Local outlet WBRC
that two other lawmakers, a Democrat and Republican, also say they’re developing legislation to increase the penalties for lying about an abduction.“It’s the most classic story of the political economy of criminal law,” another attorney told the outlet. “Politicians feeling the need to respond to a high-profile instance and typically making bad law as a result being overly punitive, overly reactive.
There’s also the bleak reality that real victims—especially victims of color—are inevitably vulnerable to being perceived as liars and would face prison time for reporting their abuse.are exceedingly rare, and abuse is extremely difficult to prove in a criminal legal system that’s designed to be skeptical of victims.
adding a rape exception to the abortion ban—with the caveat that those who “lied” about being raped would face three years in prison.Weaver’s proposed legislation, which responds to an extremely rare scenario, is almost certain to punish and dissuade victims from coming forward. But predictably enough, it seems the classic impulse to pass sweeping legislation in response to a viral news event outweighs this concern.