Bill Cosby’s rape case is having a ripple effect throughout California’s legal system.
The statute of limitations for prosecuting on rape, child molestation and other felony sex crimes is currently 10 years. After that, it becomes legally impossible to prosecute. But after the majority of the sexual assault cases against Cosby were dropped because the alleged incidents took place more than 10 years ago, lawmakers are rethinking the matter.
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Beginning next year, California’s statute of limitations on sexual assault crimes will be abolished.
“Rape survivors face many barriers to reporting this crime, but an arbitrary legal time limit is no longer a barrier in California,” said Caroline Heldman, an Occidental College professor who co-chaired the EndRapeSOL campaign that called for such a law. “This law will only affect a small number of survivors who have solid evidence that a crime occurred many years after the fact, but for these survivors, this law is life-changing.”
While the new law will give future sexual assault survivors unlimited time to prosecute, it will not be retroactive. In other words, the women whose cases were dropped against Cosby will still not be able to prosecute.
“It puts sexual predators on notice that the passage of time may no longer protect them from serious criminal consequences for their acts of sexual violence,” Heldman said.
