Alliance: Policy Statement: Statute of Limitations
Policy Statement: Statute of Limitations
The New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault supports repealing the statute of limitations on rape. Our primary reason for this support is based on the victims of sexual violence. Individuals who are sexually assaulted suffer long-lasting and wide-ranging impact on their lives. The affects are physical, psychological and social. This trauma is also felt by the people that surround the victim. The victim’s friends, family members, and colleagues also experience the consequences and repercussions of this crime.The shame and embarrassment experienced by many victims may prevent her/him from promptly reporting the incident. Often, victims are incapable of pursuing criminal action against their perpetrators for several years, even if they have received a medical/forensic examination. When the victim has recovered to the point that they are ready to pursue action, the statute of limitations may have already expired. This is one reason why the Course of Sexual Conduct bill allows criminal prosecution of a rape that occurred to someone under the age of 18 to be reported up until the age of 23.
The trauma of rape does not end when the statute of limitations does. We believe that all laws in reference to rape should take into account the victim’s concerns. It does need to be said, however, that many victims become survivors and live happy and productive lives. This is due to the resilience of those individuals and to the human spirit in general and should have no relevance on the penal code as time constraints should not be placed on an individuals healing process.
Rapists should not evade justice just because they are not caught within a 5 or 10 year timeframe. In cases of stranger rape, in which the statue of limitations is relevant, the advent of DNA and other forensic technology has made it possible to identify a perpetrator long after a crime has been committed. Any incontrovertible evidence against a perpetrator should allow for a prosecution, whenever regardless of when the evidence is discovered evidence has changed the landscape of law enforcement; improvements in DNA technology make testing more reliable and the use of DNA information in criminal cases is short of compulsory. It is time for state penal codes to catch up with the current technological advances in DNA and other technological advances that make the prosecution of sexual assaults possible long after the statute of limitations has expired.
When reviewing the New York State Statute of Limitations it is important to consider the long-lasting and wide-ranging impacts that sexual assault has on its victims. Individuals who have been raped experience immediate physical maladies that include but are not limited to, bruises, headaches, muscle soreness, nausea and sleeping disturbances. In addition, untreated trauma can result in depression, eating disorders and substance abuse, just to name a few.
The Alliance supports the elimination of the statute of limitations for all sexual offenses in New York State in order to bring victims perpetrators to justice. It will provide victims with increased opportunities to bring their perpetrators to justice. The Alliance continues to support victims in the prosecution of their perpetrators as a part of their overall healing process in which they transform from victims of sexual assault to survivors.
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[1]: http://www.nycagainstrape.org/home/nycaasa/stage.nycagainstrape.org/policy_7.html
[2]: http://www.nycagainstrape.org/home/nycaasa/stage.nycagainstrape.org/policy_4.html
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