#MeToo Set Stage for Re-Prosecution of US Multimillionaire Epstein

In a recent survey by the University of California at San Diego, 23 percent of women and 9 percent men reported being sexually assaulted, a figure that has stayed steady over the past year. Most sexual assault cases remain unreported, and when they are reported, they're rarely prosecuted.

Yet with greater public awareness about sexual violence, authorities are less likely to avoid prosecuting someone based on a belief that a jury won't deliver a guilty verdict, said Jennifer Long, chief executive of AEquitas, a group of former prosecutors who work against sexual violence.

"With the greater awareness in the community and greater resolve to hold these perpetrators accountable, it bolsters the efforts of prosecutors who want to take these cases forward and who want to obtain justice on behalf of victims and on behalf of the community," said Long, who is also an adjunct law professor at Georgetown University.

"#MeToo follows along decades of important advocacy, and it has certainly left many of us who've been working on these issues for a long time very hopeful," she added. "We have moved from a society that labels underage individuals as somehow complicit in any type of violence that they're suffering."