Seabass wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:19 pm
I, too, understand why crime victims sometimes prefer to keep silent. There are reasons, and it doesn't just apply to sexual assault or rape victims. Mugging victims. Robbery victims. General assault and battery victims. Often the process of reporting the crime, disclosure of what happened, embarrassing facts of where one might have been, what one might have done, etc., and the entire prosecution process can be daunting, embarrassing and humiliating for someone who was victimized. Sure.
That does not, however, change the fact that reporting it timely is better than not reporting it timely. Why? Because that's when memories are freshest, forensics are most available, witnesses are most available, and investigations can be most fruitful. Why do the police say you should report a missing person sooner rather than later? Because the chance of solving the crime is more likely sooner than later.
If a person's house was robbed by a neighbor or friend, wouldn't people say that the crime should be reported? Why? Because the chance of solving the crime is better sooner rather than later. And, if one waited 5 years, and then tried to report it, people would reasonably ask "why did you not report it sooner?" There may well be a good answer to that question. Maybe the items stolen were of an embarrassing nature. Maybe it was only recently discovered that a valuable item was stolen then. Who knows? No matter what the reason, though, it's better to report it early.
And, regardless of how much we understand the reason someone might want to keep a crime under wraps, the reality is that it's not just crime victims who sometimes don't report things timely. People who are lying or mistaken about being the victim of a crime, or about the person they are now accusing, also do not report crimes timely. So, not only is proof and investigation more difficult later, but when a crime is reported years later AND the late report coincides with a political, economic, or personal motive to fabricate, there is a legitimate question about the the allegation.
This has nothing to do with what most people do or don't do. Who lies most. What the rate of lying is among different populations. Etc. This is just the reality of evidence, proof, investigation, etc. There is nothing sexist about asking "why didn't you report this earlier?"
If an activist makes an allegation about someone that happens to be their political opponent at an opportune time to torpedo that opponent in some way, it's not unreasonable to question why now is the first he or she said anything about it.
“When I was in college, I took a terrorism class. ... The thing that was interesting in the class was every time the professor said ‘Al Qaeda’ his shoulders went up, But you know, it is that you don’t say ‘America’ with an intensity, you don’t say ‘England’ with the intensity. You don’t say ‘the army’ with the intensity,” she continued. “... But you say these names [Al Qaeda] because you want that word to carry weight. You want it to be something.” - Ilhan Omar
--you're reaching now
