What if criminal charges were not filed against the perpetrator?
Often victims of crime feel demoralized because the prosecutor decides to not file criminal charges against the perpetrator. Often prosecutors decide to not file charges because they do not believe they have enough evidence to prove the crime “beyond a reasonable doubt,” which is often understood to mean a 99% certainty. For instance, in many rape cases, the only evidence about the crime is the testimony of the victim and perpetrator, one claiming consent was not given, the other claiming it was. Without additional evidence, the prosecutor may determine that no reasonable jury could have a 99% certainty of who was telling the truth, so the prosecutor may decide to not bring criminal charges. However, the likelihood of winning a civil lawsuit is often substantially higher than obtaining a criminal conviction. This is primarily because in a civil lawsuit, the standard of proof is by “preponderance of the evidence,” which is often understood to mean anything more than a 50% certainty. In
