Sexual assault victims turned away by prosecutors have few options. Here they are

If the district attorney decides not to file charges, sexual assault survivors have few options for criminal justice.

Unfortunately, this is true for most people who are sexually assaulted, as PennLive’s year-long study found. On average, more than 75% of all sex crimes reported in Pennsylvania, including crimes against children, No lawsuits have been filed since 2019.

Pennsylvania’s attorney general has the authority to prosecute county cases, but only if the prosecutor refers the case to him because of a lack of resources or a conflict of interest, according to spokesman Brett Hambright. Even if a case is referred to the attorney general, the AG’s office can decide whether to accept the case, he said.

Citizens cannot go directly to the attorney general’s office because the attorney general does not have jurisdiction over district attorneys, Hambright said.

If a survivor’s case is dismissed by the police, they may consider filing a special criminal complaint with the district magistrate’s office, but this must first be approved by the district attorney; This may not be useful if the prosecutor has already decided not to prosecute. .

Other options include reopening the case by a different district attorney. That’s the case in Lehigh County, where the newly elected prosecutor noticed problems with the handling of some cases and vowed to reevaluate them.

In Pennsylvania, victims of adult sex crimes have a 12-year statute of limitations before a lawsuit can be filed. For child victims, a lawsuit can be filed until they reach the age of 50, and the period does not start until they turn 18.

According to Lewis & Llewellyn, a law firm that primarily represents sexual assault victims, if the prosecutor dismisses their case, survivors have two options: hire an attorney to present a stronger case to the district attorney’s office or try to send the case to the prosecutor’s office for reconsideration. While the prosecutor is pursuing a civil case. Most Pennsylvania counties also have sexual assault survivor advocacy organizations that provide support to victims as they navigate the system.

If the criminal process has been exhausted, the only remaining path to justice may be to sue the abuser in civil court.

In Pennsylvania, a victim who was abused as an adult has two years from the day of the attack to file a lawsuit. Those who were victimized in childhood must file a lawsuit against their abusers before they turn 30.

The burden of proof in a civil case is lower than the high bar in a criminal case, where the defendant is presumed innocent at the beginning of the trial. In a civil court, both parties are considered equal.

In civil court, the victim need only convince the jury that the defendant is more likely than not to commit the act. If the attacker is convicted in criminal court, the victim can use this as evidence to support a civil lawsuit.