INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office has gotten convictions on 97% of sex crime cases so far in 2024.

Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears told I-Team 8 that his office is having so much success in the courtroom because victims are courageously coming forward, telling their stories, and testifying.

“The No. 1 thing we hear from victims is ‘I didn’t think anybody would believe me.’ That’s the No. 1 reason you hear as to why people don’t come forward, or why they delay coming forward,” the Democrat prosecutor said.

Historically, victims not talking in courtrooms is one of the reasons sex crime cases are some of the hardest to get convictions. “These are difficult cases. A lot of times you’re dealing with delayed disclosure in child molest cases, where it’s not immediately disclosed because there’s some position of trust where that person has some sort of control over the child. A lot of times in sex crimes cases you don’t see people immediately come forward with information or evidence for a variety of reasons. A lot of times alcohol or other substances are involved that make it difficult to recall exactly what took place.”

That has changed in 2024. Prosecutors have gotten convictions in 16 of 17 cases.

“In all of these cases, whether its a rape case or a child molest case, we can’t do it without victims coming forward and telling their story. We’re just indebted to people having that willingness to come forward and be able to talk about unspeakable things that happened to them and being willing to share it in a courtroom.”

Mears wants the success so far in 2024 to have a snowball effect. “We’re hopeful that when people hear about the number of convictions, and the success that we’ve had at trial, we’re hear to say ‘not only are we willing to believe you, but the community is believing you as well,’” Mears said.