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Help the children. Not the molesters!

Existing Law

The statutes of limitation in Washington that apply to sex crimes committed against children under 18 vary depending on the type of conduct, the age of the victim, and the age of the molester. After the applicable time period passes, there can be no prosecution of the crime.

The conduct constituting each of the crimes is set out in each particular statute. Those statutes can be found at http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw with most of the criminal laws found under Titles 9 and 9A.

The effort to change the law resulted in some success in the 2009 session. RCW 9A.04.070, which you can find by going to http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=9A.04.080, now extends the statutes of limitation for certain crimes to age 28 so some victims will have until age 28 to prosecute their molester.

Federal Law

In 2003, Congress eliminated the statutes of limitation for not only child abuse but also physical abuse and kidnapping regarding those crimes under Federal law and further amended the law in 2006. The provision of the federal code, United States Code, 18 USC §3283, now states: “No statute of limitations that would otherwise preclude prosecution for an offense involving the sexual or physical abuse, or kidnaping, of a child under the age of 18 years shall preclude such prosecution during the life of the child or for ten years after the offense, whichever is longer.”