2019 Summary of Child Sexual Abuse Statutes of Limitations (SOLs)
When a crime is committed, there is a window of time that a state has to charge the perpetrator. Laws that determine this time frame are called STATUTES OF LIMITATIONS, and they vary by state and situation.
Texas along with many other states have recently updated their statutes.
A link to view these recent changes can be found by clicking the link below
https://www.childusa.org/2019sol
Sexual violence can be linked into many different crime categories. Usually depending on what the age of the victim is, and the degree of violence or force that was used. It can make comparing states challenging. It’s important to know, most states have different statutes of limitations for each category of crime.
As the effects of child sexual abuse are better understood, it’s important to update laws to ensure that child victims have the necessary time to recover and decide how to engage with the criminal justice system. Some states have carved out exceptions to statutes of limitations to offer extensions when the victim of the crime is a child. The way states allow these exceptions varies widely
Here are some questions to that can be used to evaluate these statutes:
Has this state eliminated the statute of limitations for all felony sex crimes?
Does a victim’s decision to report or not to report reduce the state’s statute of limitations for sex crimes?
Does this state have exceptions to statutes of limitations for DNA evidence?
What are the state’s statutes of limitations for its most serious felony sex crimes?
Crimes of sexual violence are often as complicated as they are heinous. They require careful, thoughtful investigation and prosecution. A majority of states have built exceptions into their statutes of limitations for specific situations to allow the clock to pause.
Many state policymakers have now understood how the physical, emotional, and psychological effects of sexual violence can influence how and when a victim reports a crime. Regarless, some states reduce the amount of time when a charge can be brought against a perpetrator if a victim doesn’t report within a set period of time
Short statutes of limitation block justice for the victims and simultaneously protect the perpetrators and institutions.
There are two groups of sex abuse victims to consider:
the victims whose claims have expired and
the children currently being abused.
With 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys sexually abused, the United States is home to millions of those that have been affected by crimes such as child sex abuse, and most, even today, have not disclosed the abuse to the public. The pace of change, based on these child sex abuse statistics, is unlikely to slow down anytime soon.
Why is SOL important in child sex abuse cases?
Proven research shows that most people who experience sexual abuse in childhood do not disclose until adulthood. In return, narrow statutes of limitation can prevent the punishment of perpetrators on the criminal side, and prevent redress on the civil side.
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