The Supreme Court ruled today that a California law that retroactively removes the statute of limitations for sex crimes is unconstitutional. Basically, the statute of limitations for sex crimes previously said that a prosecution had to be brought within 7 years of the crime, or else it could never be brought. The recent California law temporarily suspended that restriction and only required that a prosecution be brought within 1 year of when the victim filed a police report, which could be done any amount of time after the alleged abuse occured.
Statutes of limitations are important because it can be impossible to mount a defense against accusations of wrongdoing that may have occured in the distant past. Witnesses die and move away, memories fade and change over time. Realize, once an accusation is made and a prosecution has begun, there is no time limit on how long it can take to complete. If the suspect flees justice he can still be tried and convicted in absentia. Statutes of limitations only prevent accusations from being brought too long after the fact.
It may or may not be good policy to lengthen or eliminate the statute of limitations that applies to sex crimes, and that is still within the power of the California legislature, but the Supreme Court has ruled that it cannot do so retroactively for crimes that have already been committed.
Update:
This CNN story indicates that the statute of limitations for sex crimes in California is 3 years, not 7 as I said previously.
I'd like to know more about the law concerning the statute of limitations in California, Thanks
I was a victim of sexual abuse from age 6- 21- my step father raped me repeatedly and everyone knew it. It takes years for people to come to terms with being abused or to heal emotionally from the after effects of abuse. Im still a psychological mess. There are times when I cant concentrate or hold a job. My sister who was also abused prosecutedand won a civil suit against the person who abused her. I spent 2 + years in various psychiatric facilities while my family - my mother and her husband- my step dad-waited for the statute of limitations to be over. Every time I tried to sue they would squash me-
After about three years they released me- My family knew , my mom knew, my sister, cousins- my mom's accountant- My mother never even divorced the man- they are still married. They blamed me for having a problem and not being able to forgive him. There should be no statute of limitations on sex crimes
a: What do you mean "every time I tried to sue they would squash me"? How did they have you involuntarily committed once you were an adult? When you were committed, even as a child, why didn't you tell the doctors about the abuse?
Anyway, that's neither here nor there. Statutes of limitation are important to protect the rights of defendants, who are presumed to be innocent. If too much time elapses between the crime and the prosecution, it's impossible to assemble a reasonable defense. Alibi witnesses die or disappear, memories fade, and so forth. Sometimes this leads to guilty people going free, but that's a fact society has chosen to live with, rather than risk putting innocent people in jail.
I myself did report the abuse to the dr. I was abused from 8-14 & the dr did what she was suppose to do, however; some cop decided to file the report 1985, but never f/u with me or my father. Am I to assume because the report said by the dr I was in a delicate depression state & that the dr wanted to be notified before any further action was taken against my father. Here it is 20 years later, I have to courage & the resources to prosecute him now, but how could the system allow me to sit in idle all these years, when the intial steps was taken by me, but legally, what, nobody wanted to help. In this type of scenario, how could the statue of limitiation stick. It's not just about my dad taking ownership for what he's done to me, but the system filed me away in the archive drawer rather than do their job - get a child out of an abusive situation.
I was a victim of rape when I was 11yrs old and due to the lack of DNA knowledge back in 1987 the case was shelved due to lack of evidence. As a child I was unable to fight for myself or have the knowledge of resources to get the detective to reopen the case, I had to rely on my parents to fight for me. However they failed to do so and now I am 30 yrs old and have an 11yr old daughter, The memory of that night is haunting my more than ever, memories that I have suppressed have serviced and everyday I have to live with what this man did to me. While I continue reliving this nightmare every day of my life, this man was able to live his life free of fear that he will get caught because the statute of limitations has run out. Victims don't have a statute of limitations on the horror and painful memories of this crime and yes the statute of limitations is their to protect the accused from distorted memories and that is a fact that I have come to terms with, But what about the innocent child. Also If there is DNA evidence that proves the gilt of the defendant then why put a statute of limitations on a child rape case with DNA evidence.