I think he's referring to cases where the wrong person has been incarcerated ... like someone getting wrongly accused and sentenced for a murder. If the punishment was $20, the real perpetrator is more likely to come forward.

But, because the punishment for murder is $20, it's more likely to happen. Since there's not usually any sort of repercussion for saying someone raped you, it happens all the time.

The next bit is anecdotal, so it might not be illustrative of the whole US, but definitely something I've observed: I'm a 30 year old grad student, and from time to time I either have to associate with younger students collaboratively, or I'm trying to be a nasty hedonist with svelte women a decade younger than me. It's as if rape is a casual conversation topic for 19-22 year old girls - it's certainly a red flag for me to fuck off when I hear it, but I'm not sure I've met any girl in that age group within the last year that hasn't told me about being raped. I get really worked up about that sort of thing, and I've harmed dudes over it in the past. Now I roll my eyes.

Either instances of rape have just spread with wanton abundance since I was an undergrad, or it's being used as some sort of vulnerability signalling to attract guys; both scenarios are insanity. From what I've observed, rape, or false accusations of rape are being normalized. I suspect it's the latter.

Again, super anecdotal, but I've fraternized with a hell of a lot of these accusors.