False Allegations Hub

Police ‘should not automatically believe abuse victims’ to avoid another ‘Nick’ scandal

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Head of college of policing said force had ‘overreacted’ to criticism of the handling of historic sexual abuse

Originally published by The Telegraph on 15 October 2022

A cancerous phenomenon

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

One of Australia's most respected former detectives, Colin McLaren, breaks rank to explain why he no longer trusts the judicial system — and why Australia still has no criminal cases review commission.

Originally published by Wrongful Convictions Report on 13 June 2020

Another CCRC established … but still not in Australia

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

New Zealand's Criminal Cases Review Commission opens for applications on 1 July 2020, leaving Australia the outlier with no equivalent body.

Originally published by Wrongful Convictions Report on 24 May 2020

A son speaks out

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Moses Farrow's first-person account of life inside Mia Farrow's household, and why he says the 1992 allegation against Woody Allen never happened.

Originally published by mosesfarrow.blogspot.com on 23 May 2018

Cheerleading coach acquitted of sexually assaulting girls

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

An Adelaide cheerleading coach who had been accused of sexually assaulting girls at a club is acquitted of all charges, after a judge finds the complainants were "not credible or reliable".

Originally published by ABC News on 29 September 2023

Child institutional abuse probe’s approach under fire

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Senior trauma and memory researchers say the $500 million royal commission has adopted a misguided victim-advocacy role and published “ethically dubious” research.

Originally published by The Australian on 30 September 2017

Data reveals only 14 per cent of child sexual abuse claims before Family Court believed to be true by judges

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The authors of a new report into findings in Family Court matters where sexual abuse was alleged say they began the project because of a lack of data.

Originally published by ABC News on 9 August 2021

Former police officers on trial for wrongful conviction of Alan Hall

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The two officers are charged with perverting the course of justice in one of New Zealand’s most high profile wrongful convictions.

Originally published by The Post on 29 June 2026

‘It’s over’: Judge returns kids to Valpo couple who says state wrongfully accused them of abuse

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

A Valparaiso mother and father have their kids back after they say the Indiana Department of Child Services wrongfully accused them of abusing their baby.

Originally published by WISH-TV on 7 July 2026

One of NZ’s worst miscarriages of justice goes to trial

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

One of New Zealand’s worst wrongful convictions returned to court yesterday, 40 years after the murder and subsequent police investigation that led to it.

Originally published by The Spinoff on 30 June 2026

The use of ‘recovered memory’ in this alarming Aussie sex scandal reveals its ruinous nature, & the weakness of liberal democracy

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Editor's note (11 August 2026): This opinion piece is republished as it was written, in March 2021, at the height of the events it describes. Much of what it anticipates did not happen, and its central factual premise is contested. It should be read as a record of how the affair was argued at the time, not as a current account.

The Australian government may fall because of unproven and extremely dodgy 30-year-old rape allegations against a cabinet minister – the unchecked power of the #MeToo movement and its woke media allies is destroying our society.

Originally published by RT on 9 March 2021

Review body may help establish other wrongful conviction cases, professor says

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

A law professor hopes an independent commission aimed at dealing with cases of wrongful conviction will stop cases like Alan Hall's taking decades to rectify.

Originally published by RNZ on 19 August 2023

‘Properly shafted’: How the courts failed to get to grips with the wrongful conviction of Eddie Gilfoyle

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The psychologist whose report made Merseyside Police suspect Eddie Gilfoyle of murdering his pregnant wife now calls his own advice 'nonsense'.

Originally published by The Justice Gap on 3 July 2026

Police vetted dubious allegation only after Buttigieg was separated from children

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Michigan attorney general’s office is investigating how the accusation that separated the ex-Cabinet secretary from his 4-year-old twins was handled.

Originally published by The Washington Post on 27 July 2026

The Guardian view on the Criminal Cases Review Commission: after Malkinson errors, trust must be earned back

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Editorial: A review ordered by Vera Baird should help the body tasked with identifying miscarriages of justice to rebuild itself.

Originally published by The Guardian on 17 July 2026

The Role of False Memories in Wrongful Convictions

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Two Toronto defence lawyers set out how false memories reach the criminal courts, and what R. v Tan and R v SKM show about testing recovered-memory evidence.

Originally published by Not On Record on 16 January 2025

‘Those events never happened’

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

She’s a highly influential activist for childhood trauma survivors. But questions are being asked about Cathy Kezelman’s own shocking story of abuse.

Originally published by The Australian on 30 September 2017

False Accusations and Wrongful Convictions: How Lives Can So Easily Be Ruined

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The history of the Australian criminal justice system is littered with instances of innocent lives ruined as a result of false accusations and wrongful convictions.

Originally published by Sydney Criminal Lawyers on 6 November 2024

False rape allegations aren’t so rare

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The much-quoted 5 per cent figure comes from a meta-analysis that excluded whole categories of cases. Two Australian researchers put the real rate above 10 per cent.

Originally published by The Spectator Australia on 21 October 2023

Institutional Cowardice: Grooming Gangs and False Allegations

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Patrick O'Loan draws a parallel between the grooming gang scandal and the handling of false allegations: in both, institutions feared activist backlash more than injustice.

Originally published by False Allegations Watch on 27 May 2026

PROOF magazine: Ghosts in the System

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Filmmakers Fran Robertson and Jemma Gander report from Joe Outlaw's trial, where a jury heard the indefinite IPP sentence itself put on trial.

Originally published by The Justice Gap on 8 May 2026

What if the police and prosecution were told to ‘believe all victims of false allegations’?

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

A Bristol criminologist inverts the instruction: if police and prosecutors had to believe every claimed victim of a false allegation, would they accept it?

Originally published by University of Bristol Law School Blog on 22 January 2024

"Making a Murderer" returns with a new Steven Avery lawyer to obsess over: Kathleen Zellner

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Steven Avery's and Brendan Dassey's cases have stayed in the news since season 1. Zellner gives new reason to watch

Originally published by Salon.com on 19 October 2018

Mud sticks: new study into ‘living hell’ of the wrongly accused

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

An Oxford study of 30 interviews finds teachers and carers cleared of abuse are ‘a new and growing class of victims’, left with wrecked careers and enduring trauma.

Originally published by thejusticegap.com on 19 May 2016

Man thrown behind bars over an underscore mark

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

His name had one “_”. The criminal's had two. He got 18 months anyway.

Originally published by news.com.au on 31 July 2026