Accusing someone of domestic violence is very serious. It can change the course of their life, especially if they have children. This is nothing that anyone should do lightly.
However, it is true that some people will make false allegations of domestic violence against intimate partners. They will claim to have been threatened or abused when nothing of the sort took place. To the person who is being accused falsely, this is often very surprising and frustrating. Why would someone do this?
Gender may play a role
One thing to consider is the role of gender and who is perpetrating the abuse. These false accusations are more common when women are perpetrating real violence against their male partners. For instance, one study said that 73% of men who had experienced this violence at the hand of their female partners also claimed that those partners threatened them with false allegations. This threat was used as a tactic to get them not to report the violence. When you look at the general population, rather than men who have had violence perpetrated against them, the rate of false accusations was just 3%.
Child custody cases are often involved
Another thing to think about is that some false accusations stem from child custody cases. Co-parents may be fighting over custody and they know that the court is going to take domestic violence very seriously. Someone may make a false accusation simply to secure custody for themselves.
Of course, no one deserves to be falsely accused of perpetrating violence against someone else. Those who have been accused, need to make sure they know about all the defense options at their disposal.
