Police

Someone who experienced abuse in the past may still be able to seek justice from the criminal court system but it can be complicated. In general, even if a crime is not very recent, a victim can still report the abuse to the authorities. Usually, when a person makes a criminal report, the police will listen to the victim and take a look at whatever evidence s/he has. If the police examine the evidence that is shown to them, they can decide whether it’s enough to open an investigation, which may involve interviewing the victim and questioning the perpetrator. If the police believe that a crime has been committed, they can make an arrest. If they are unsure whether or not there is enough evidence to arrest, they can bring the case to the prosecutor in the county where the crime took place to see what the prosecutor thinks. The prosecutor can then decide if there’s enough evidence to go forward with a criminal case and whether or not to press charges for the crime.

Sometimes it can be difficult to prove abuse once any injuries have healed or any witnesses are no longer available. However, if the victim went to the doctor/hospital at the time of the abuse, s/he may be able to get those medical records to show to the police. Or there could be other evidence to show the police such as text messages or voicemails the reference the crime. Or, perhaps the victim wrote about the abuse in a journal or on a calendar on the date that it happened that s/he may still have, which could lend credibility to the fact that it happened when s/he said it did. I am not sure if you have any similar evidence (or other evidence) that you can think of that may help to corroborate what happened. If so, it could be something to consider showing to the police when making a report.

Sometimes, prosecutors are reluctant to go forward with a case that happened a long time ago because it’s hard to get evidence and to prove to a jury that a crime was committed so long after the incidents. And sometimes, if it’s been a long time since the incident, the “statute of limitations” may have run out. The statute of limitations is the amount of time the authorities have to charge someone with a crime - the statute of limitations can vary from crime to crime and from state to state. The statute of limitations will depend on the specific crime(s) involved, and the prosecutor should be able to tell you if the statute of limitations has run out or not.

Generally, a person who wants to report a crime may want to start out by contacting the police in his/her area. If they’re not helpful or seem unwilling to go forward with the case, the victim may want to contact the prosecutor’s office directly. Sometimes having an advocate or a lawyer along with the victim as s/he approaches the police to report the crime may help, especially if the police may be hesitant to investigate the crime due to how old it is or due to other reasons. You can find lawyers and advocates in STATE on our website. [EMBED PLACES THAT HELP LINK]

Also, if you are in fear of this person, you may want to read through the information we have about protection orders on our website. [EMBED RO LINK]