The criminal statute of limitations is the deadline by which prosecutors must file charges, and it varies by offense. Federal crimes carry a default of five years. State misdemeanors often run one to two years, state felonies commonly three to six, and complex felonies longer. Murder, capital offenses, and certain terrorism and child sexual abuse crimes have no deadline at all. Several rules can pause or reset the clock.
Crimes With No Deadline
Under federal law, any crime punishable by death can be charged at any time.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3281 – Capital Offenses Murder is the familiar example, and nearly every state follows the same rule for homicide. A decades-old cold case can still lead to an arrest if new evidence surfaces.
Terrorism offenses that caused or created a foreseeable risk of death or serious bodily injury also have no federal time limit.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3286 – Extension of Statute of Limitation for Certain Terrorism Offenses
Serious sexual offenses against children increasingly fall in this category too. Most states now allow felony child sexual abuse to be prosecuted regardless of when it occurred. Federal law permits prosecution of offenses involving the sexual or physical abuse of a child under 18 during the life of the child or for ten years after the offense, whichever is longer.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3283 – Offenses Against Children
The Federal Default and Its Exceptions
For any federal crime that isn’t punishable by death, the default statute of limitations is five years from the date the offense was committed.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3282 – Offenses Not Capital That five-year clock covers most federal charges, from drug offenses to fraud to weapons crimes, unless Congress has enacted a specific exception.
Two exceptions come up often. Financial institution crimes such as bank fraud and wire fraud affecting a financial institution carry a ten-year statute of limitations.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3293 – Financial Institution Offenses Non-capital terrorism offenses get eight years.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3286 – Extension of Statute of Limitation for Certain Terrorism Offenses
State Time Limits
State deadlines track the seriousness of the offense. Each state typically sets one general period for felonies and a shorter one for misdemeanors, with exceptions carved out for specific crimes.6Justia. Criminal Statutes of Limitations: 50-State Survey
Misdemeanors usually run one to two years. Many states set the baseline at one year, though some allow up to five years for certain categories. General felony statutes of limitations commonly fall in the three-to-six-year range. Complex or serious felonies push further out. Arson, major fraud, and large-scale theft frequently carry limitation periods of seven to ten years at the state level.
Because state law drives most prosecutions and the numbers vary widely, the deadline for any specific charge has to be checked against the statute of the state where the offense occurred.
When the Clock Starts
For most crimes, the statute of limitations begins running on the date the offense is committed. A theft on March 1 starts the clock that day, and it runs continuously from there.
The main exception is the discovery rule, which applies when a crime is deliberately concealed or its effects aren’t immediately apparent. Under the discovery rule, the clock doesn’t start until the crime is actually discovered or reasonably should have been discovered. Fraud cases turn on this often. An embezzlement hidden through falsified accounting records might not trigger the limitations period until an audit uncovers the discrepancy.
What Pauses the Clock
Even after the clock starts, certain circumstances can stop it. This pause is called tolling.
Fleeing From Justice
Federal law is blunt: no statute of limitations protects anyone fleeing from justice.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3290 – Fugitives From Justice If you flee the jurisdiction to avoid prosecution, the clock stops entirely and doesn’t restart until you are no longer a fugitive. Most states have equivalent provisions.
Child Victims
When the victim is a child, many jurisdictions delay the start of the limitations period until the child reaches the age of majority, typically 18. Federal law goes further for child abuse offenses and allows prosecution throughout the victim’s lifetime.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3283 – Offenses Against Children
Waiting on Foreign Evidence
Federal cases sometimes depend on evidence located abroad. When the government makes a formal request for foreign evidence, a court can suspend the statute of limitations while the request is pending. The suspension can’t exceed three years, and the extension is capped at six months beyond what the original deadline would have been if the foreign authority responds in time.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3292 – Suspension of Limitations to Permit United States to Obtain Foreign Evidence
DNA Evidence Exceptions
Forensic science has carved out its own set of rules. Under federal law, when DNA testing implicates a specific person in a felony, the suspect gets a fresh limitations period of the same length that originally applied, starting from the date the DNA results identified them.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3297 – Cases Involving DNA Evidence A crime with a five-year limitations period could be prosecuted nine years later if DNA testing identified the suspect in year eight.
Federal prosecutors can also file an indictment identifying a suspect solely by their DNA profile, provided the indictment is filed within the original five-year window. Once that indictment is on file, the normal limitations period no longer applies, and the case stays alive until the person is identified and arrested.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3282 – Offenses Not Capital Many states have adopted similar DNA exceptions, and some have eliminated time limits entirely for crimes where biological evidence is collected.
Raising the Deadline as a Defense
One detail catches many people off guard. The statute of limitations is an affirmative defense. Courts do not enforce it automatically. A defendant has to raise it, and raise it on time. The Supreme Court has held that the defense must be asserted at or before trial in the district court, and a defendant who fails to do so cannot bring it up for the first time on appeal.10Congress.gov. Statute of Limitation in Federal Criminal Cases: An Overview
The defense can also be waived explicitly or lost by pleading guilty. Entering an unconditional guilty plea forfeits the right to argue that charges were filed too late. Anyone facing charges for conduct that occurred years earlier should flag the timing issue with counsel immediately. Sleep on it and it may be gone for good.