Statutes of Limitations are put in place to limit the amount of time the victim of a crime is able to legally make a complaint against their perpetrator and have a court address this claim. But did you know that different crimes have different lengths of statutes of limitations? Or that the statutes of limitations for the same crime can vary widely on a state by state basis?
It may seem unfair to the victim to be limited in the amount of time they have to come forward, but these limitations are put in place because allowing a long time period could have an effect on how accurate the evidence is. Not all crimes have statutes of limitations though. More heinous crimes, like first-degree murder, have no statute of limitations for any of the states. Use this interactive map to easily find and learn more about the criminal statutes of limitations across the United States.
