Inadequacies of Current Remedies Available

At the moment, the only "remedies" available to a victim who disagrees with the Commonwealth Attorney's decision not to prosecute her perpetrator is either to bring a civil suit against her perpetrator or to vote against that Commonwealth Attorney in the next election. Below is a small exploration of the reasons why these "remedies" are woefully inadequate to address the serious and personal nature of these issues.

*Voting Against the Prosecutor in the Next Election-

- ineffective due to the fact that he will be perceived to have a good record because he doesn’t take cases that might have a risk of losing.

- such an indirect action against someone who has so directly impacted the individual’s life.

- fails to address the individual wrongs perpetrated by the Commonwealth/District Attorneys

*Civil Court-

- financial burden of prosecution rests with the victim.

-MUCH shorter statute of limitations

-abundance of loopholes and technicalities

- fails to address the wrongs done to society as a whole by the crime.

We need to address, as a society, the fact that the prosecutor's office is set up to REWARD the dropping of "difficult" cases. This is especially important as most crimes against women and children fall into this "difficult" category... and these are the individuals who most need the protection of the law on thier side.