What to do and what's the law?

Question

My friend went to her friend's apartment. He sexually assaulted her. Now she won't tell her parents because their family isn't so well right now and she won't tell the police because her parents will know. She doesn't want her family to fall apart.

Can you get the guy in jail even if there's no proof of him doing that but you know he did? I know you always need proof but what if she lies to the police? I'm just trying to help her out. Will the guy be sentenced for life if he gets caught. By the way she isn't 18 and I'm sure the guy is at least 18. So that would be adult minor. Help me out PLEASE.

Answer 1

I don't know why this was reposted, but to play it safe, I'll just paste my answer.

You cannot convict a person without proof establishing guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and you cannot prosecute a person with only hearsay information.

There is no such thing as you knowing something but having no proof. You may have little proof or insufficient proof, but you have to have something, or you are just guessing. if your friend told you about the incident soon after it happened, it could form an exception to the hearsay rule known as the "excited utterance" exception.

"what if she lies to the police to save her family?"

Then she'll have to live with this for the rest of her life. Just what answer did you expect. Do you really think, with the controversy over Guantanamo Bay, that our justice system will allow the imprisonment without proof of guilt? Just how do you even know that this happened. Your friend told you, but how do you know that she was honest with you about every detail? People do lie - the circumstances may not allow for that possibility, but you're aksing the CrimJusSys to make a huge guess.

"Will the guy be sentenced for life if he gets caught?"

You really need a reality check - nobody is caught unless they;re being chased, and that's not going to happen unless there is a case. I'm sorry to put it so bluntly, but you're getting too old to have this distorted an idea of how the system works.

SOME EXTRA STUFF I JUST FELT LIKE SAYING

You need to have a long talk with your friend.  You are correct in relating the potential harm to her family, but the point is that these things have a way of coming up on their own, and the likelihood is great since the two are already friends.  If your friend gets pregnant or contracts an STD, or if the other guy rapes or assaults somebody else (under the law, some forms of rape include consensual s*x with somebody under 17, even if the defendant didn't know his victim was under the minimum age.)  This will probably be worse if the family learns it from somebody else.  

Who knows, for its painful scar, this might be the sort of family crisis that brings them closer, sort of a life a domestic version of the 9/11 attack.

Answer 2

Tell the police! No excuses, he will do it again maybe to you or someone else, do you want that responsibility?

Answer 3

How old is your friend? What is the age of consent in your state? Some adult in her life needs to be made aware of what happened. Was she raped? What if she was, and becomes pregnant, or has an STD? Her family will surely find out if either of those situations come to pass. I was molested as a child, and told my mother, who told my father, who did NOTHING, because he didn't want HIS name in the paper. I never forgave him, (either one of them for that matter) and today, well over 30 years later do not, although he's been dead for 16 years. She needs to go to someone for help. Look in the phone book for a rape crisis counselor. She needs some adult to look out for her, because her mind isn't absorbing what happened to her, nor does she realize how long she'll live with whatever happened... forever! Good Luck, and God bless!! You're a good friend for being so concerned.