Rape cases dropped if victims refuse to hand over phones

This happens with domestic violence too. My friend and her son had to give their phones to the police when they fled to a refuge at the other end of the country. It was to help secure a conviction but there was a sense that if they didnt nothing would be done. So then they were vulnerable and unable to contact people like friends or her own mum.

There also have to be limits on just how much evidence can be extracted.

Deleted images from your cloud many years back - not on. Deeply traumatised victims are being asked for their phones with nobody telling them just how much data will be recovered or extracted and that it will be handed over to the defence in the discovery process.

It's to the point where victims need the guidance of a privacy advocate to advised them on how much evidence can be extracted and the time frame.

Victims' diaries used to be used as evidence in rape trials, so this is more of the same.

Predatory rapists are being allowed to walk free because the police want to persecute victims.

I'm on the fence. Evidence from phones has both secured convictions and exonerated defendants in the past. So I can see why it can provide essential evidence.

That said, we need to improve the system whereby evidence is extracted. It's horrendously unfair to keep someone's phone for months. There must be sufficient resources to extract evidence in under a week or less.

Asking how we convicted people before the advent of phones, well often we didn't. And nowadays so many people live their lives on their phones.