I have begun challenging this idea as well, simply because of the subtle message to victims — ”this did not happen to you, unless we conclude that it did.”

If a person who abused is taken to court and is found not guilty, it erases the victim’s ability to find closure around what happened. While there are certainly cases where the accused is innocent, I’m specifically talking about cases where the accused is the abuser, and they get a pass simply because there is a lack of evidence to secure a guilty verdict. This is why many victims (and prosecutors) never pursue criminal allegations, even when the abuse warrants it.