Yeah, all kinds of evidence could be manufactured to frame someone for all kinds of crimes-- but if every crime required more than one witness (or even just one witness) to sustain a conviction, then the criminal justice system would be damn near impotent and people would be getting away with murder, literally, on a regular basis, even when the killer is known through compelling evidence.
I disagree, its not so easy to frame anyone for any other crime. For example if I wanted to frame you for murder, it would be damn near impossible. You would be outside doing something else at the time the murder occured, I would need your fingerprints on the weapon, etc etc etc. Its a lot harder than the woman bruising herself to frame a man..
Yeah, and anyone who gets threatened, mugged, beaten, etc. without any witnesses around could theoretically make up the whole thing, but if someone couldn't prove it in court without a witness-- then all a criminal has to do to get off scot-free is not assault or rob someone in the presence of other people. Don't you see how this is problematic.
I disagree again. Getting beaten = a lot more injuries than some bruises to your thighs. Getting mugged = proving that you lost something valueable. As for getting threatened I would think you'd need witnesses, without witnesses the police might give a warning to the other guy but they won't arrest him.
Plus you also have to think about the motivation. A psycho ex g/f can have a lot of motivation getting her boyfriend in trouble by claiming he raped her. Perhaps the guy would pay her a lot of money to get her to take the case back. Can you think of any motivation behind why someone might want to frame someone else by claiming he was robbed or beaten by that person?
In many US states yes, but not in the UK. In the UK there is only strict liability (no mens rea, or intent, needed) for sex with a child under 13. I'm opposed to strict liability laws for criminal offenses-- it flies in the face of justice.
I don't understand what you mean here. So what's the difference between UK/US laws? If a girl had sex with a guy after telling him she was 18 and turned out to be younger, the guy won't get into any trouble?
Edit: Btw, I should clarify something, I'm not saying the 4 witness system is a good one by any means. Through that its even easier to frame someone since its easy to pay/convince 4 people who'll pretend to be the witnesses to the rape and then the guy gets jailed.