It’s complicated. Consider this situation: Alan assaults his partner Beth. He is reported by a neighbour, and Beth cooperates. But Alan is an abuser who knows

It’s complicated. Consider this situation: Alan assaults his partner Beth. He is reported by a neighbour, and Beth cooperates. But Alan is an abuser who knows all of the tricks for exerting mental, emotional, and physical control over Beth. He convinces her to say nothing in court. Some people argue—correctly—that threatening Beth with consequences for failing toi testify truthfully about the events she recounted to police when questioned is hurting the victim. Others argue—also correctly—that without being able to compel victims like Alice to follow-through with the prosecution, we enable and even encourage domestic abusers to witness-tamper. I don’t know that there is one easy works-in-all-circumstances approach.