That system has great shortcomings from the victim side as well, in my opinion. When a complainant feels that the offence is too minor to bother with, it's the "bother" part that we have to be most concerned about. Maybe the incident wasn't as minor as the complainant thinks, as in she could be conditioned to think of sexual assault as normal. Then again, maybe the perpetrator was a repeat offender. Maybe it was a minor offence, but a prelude to worse assaults against someone else. Those are troubling possibilities, because a problem that could be dealt with early on might persist or grow worse.

The "bother" the complainant is concerned about is, ultimately, a criminal trial where she will be the primary witness. That's a very heavy burden to take on. Again I point out that perhaps some other means of dealing with the complaint outside of the criminal justice system might make women more willing to come forward.