While the criminal justice system will decide the fate of the most recent sexual assault lawsuit at Baylor University, the way many close to the lawsuit are reacting is a low blow to efforts helping to prevent rape.

A new lawsuit at Baylor University, which is in the Big 12 Conference with Iowa State, alleges that the 2009-15 football program had a culture where drugs, alcohol and sex were promoted and led to cases of violence and “the most widespread culture of sexual violence and abuse of women ever reported in a collegiate athletic program,” according to ESPN. This is not the first lawsuit of its kind in recent times at the school.

Baylor’s former Title IX coordinator, who filed a complaint with the Department of Education, said she was made to feel unsafe when investigating alleged perpetrators because she was told they had a “potential for violence.”

One of the former assistants who was with the program at the time of the allegations told reporters “that he couldn’t think of a single player who would ever retaliate in such a way, saying, ‘Absolutely not,’ when asked whether that was ever a concern,” according to ESPN.

It simply does not matter whether he could think of a “single player” who might do something like this — and, in fact, making that statement at all is beyond harmful.

Sexual assault and domestic violence often happen behind closed doors. Perpetrators can be family, friends, significant others or strangers. The only appropriate response when asked whether you think someone might have been involved in this is something along the lines of “I don’t know, but I certainly hope not because those actions are horrific and unacceptable in any circumstance.”

With responses such as what the former assistant coach said, it is no wonder sexual assault and domestic violence occur so frequently.

In 1,000 rapes, 994 perpetrators will walk free, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. Of those 1,000, only 310 are reported to police, and the vast majority of those perpetrators will not face incarceration.

There is a problem in our system. On top of dealing with the aftermath of their assault, victims may feel uncomfortable reporting, may feel no one will believe them and often they will get no justice for what was done to them because our society seems to think we need to take the perpetrator’s side first.

We should be supporting those who report, so as a society we can stand for the justice that victims deserve and once and for all take a stand against rape culture. Yet, in so many cases, when reporting happens, too many people seem to “remind” the world that these allegations are just that — alleged — or people who know the alleged perpetrators dismiss the allegations without even considering they could be guilty.

It has to stop.

We don’t necessarily have to turn against the alleged perpetrator, but we have a moral obligation to believe the alleged victim and support them as they carry out their lawsuits. Because if we don’t, we thus continue to discourage reporting and we will never be able to prevent sexual assault.