Criminal Charges / Crimes

Someone who experienced physical or sexual abuse as a child [CHANGE THE WORDS ‘AS A CHILD’ TO ‘MANY YEARS AGO’ IF WE ARE NOT SURE HOW OLD THE VICTIM WAS] may still be able to seek justice from the criminal court system but it can be complicated. In general, even if a crime is not very recent, a victim can still report the abuse to the authorities. Usually, when a person makes a criminal report, the police will listen to the victim and take a look at whatever evidence s/he has. If the police believe that a crime has been committed, they can make an arrest. If they are unsure whether or not there is enough evidence to arrest, they can bring the case to the prosecutor in the county where the crime took place. The prosecutor can then decide if there’s enough evidence to go forward with a criminal case and whether or not to press charges for the crime.

A criminal case usually starts with the victim of a crime making a report to the police in the county/town/city where the abuse happened. After the police investigate, the state could charge an abuser with one or more crimes based on the abuse. If convicted, the abuser could face a variety of punishments, which may include going to jail. However, there are some considerations involved in charging an abuser with a crime that happened many years ago.

First, there could be the issue of “statute of limitations” - which means that there could be a limited amount of time that a person can be prosecuted for a crime. Once that time is up, the person can no longer be criminally prosecuted for the crime. However, many states have exceptions regarding statutes of limitations, especially when it comes to childhood sexual abuse. For example, if the abuse happened when the victim was a child, the statute of limitations may not start to run until the victim turns 18 or 21 or some other age of majority. Another example could be that the statute freezes (“tolls”) for any years that the abuser was out of the state for an extended period of time.

I cannot speak to what the law says about this in your state, but the Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network (RAINN) website has a chart with the statutes of limitations by state for sex crimes that you may want to look at. WomensLaw is not affiliated with this website, and cannot vouch for the information contained in it. You may want to contact the prosecutor’s office in your state or you may want to talk with a lawyer [HYPERLINK TO LEGAL ASSISTANCE PAGE] to verify this information.

[CAN ADD THIS INFO ABOUT A CIVIL SUIT IF THE VICTIM ASKS ABOUT IT OR IF YOU THINK IT’S APPROPRIATE TO ADD]: Another possible option for someone who has been abused in the past might be to file a civil lawsuit for damages. In a civil case, one person sues another for a private “wrong” or harm committed. In a civil case, the court may be able to punish an abuser by ordering him/her to pay the victim compensation for committing a bad act and causing harm. There are also statutes of limitations for civil cases. These are likely different than the criminal statutes of limitations. Again, you may want to consider talking to a lawyer and asking about this. Here is a link for a lawyer referral service in your state [HYPERLINK] if you want to consult with an attorney about the possibility of suing in civil court or you may want to reach out to the National Crime Victims Bar Association. You can also see information about suing an abuser on our website. [HYPERLINK]

Also, here is a link for organizations that help victims of sexual abuse in case you want to reach out to get support. We also have a link to various message boards/chat rooms that are specifically for victims of abuse/rape/incest where a person can communicate with others anonymously who have been through similar trauma.