Duke lacrosse rape hoax

The Duke lacrosse rape hoax was a widely reported 2006 criminal case hoax in Durham, North Carolina, United States, in which three members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team were falsely accused of rape. The three students were David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann. The accuser, Crystal Mangum, a student at North Carolina Central University and part-time striptease dancer, alleged that the rape occurred at the Durham residence of two of the team's captains, where she had worked on March 13, 2006. Investigation and resolution of the case sparked public discussion of racism, sexual violence, media bias, and due process on campuses. The former lead prosecutor, Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, ultimately resigned in disgrace, and was disbarred and briefly imprisoned for violating ethics standards. In December 2024, Mangum admitted to fabricating the assault and falsely testifying.

On April 11, 2007, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper dropped all charges, declaring the three lacrosse players "innocent" and victims of a "tragic rush to accuse". Cooper described Nifong as a "rogue prosecutor"; he withdrew from the case in January 2007 after the North Carolina State Bar filed ethics charges against him. In June 2007, Nifong was disbarred for "dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation", making him the first prosecutor in North Carolina disbarred for trial conduct. Nifong served one day in jail for lying about sharing DNA tests (criminal contempt); he had not given results to the defense team. The lab director said it was a misunderstanding and Nifong claimed it was due to weak memory. DNA analysis did not show evidence from any of the accused men; Mangum was not charged for her false allegations.

Cooper noted several inconsistencies between Mangum's accounts of the evening and the alibis offered by Seligmann and Finnerty, which were supported by forensic evidence. The Durham Police Department was strongly criticized for violating their own policies by: allowing Nifong to act as the de facto head of the investigation; using an unreliable suspect-only photo identification procedure with Mangum; pursuing the case despite vast discrepancies in notes taken by Investigator Benjamin Himan and Sergeant Mark Gottlieb; and distributing a poster that appeared to presume the suspects' guilt shortly after the allegations were made public. The three students brought a civil lawsuit against Duke University, which was settled with the university paying approximately US$20 million to each claimant. The students also sought further unspecified damages and called for criminal justice reform laws in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against the City of Durham and its police department.