California’s governor just signed a bill that lifts the statute of limitations for rape and child molestation cases in the state. Previously, the state would only convict those charged within 10 years of the committed crime.
According to the Associated Press, the law will also “end the time limit on older cases in which the statute of limitations has not yet expired.” The law would go into effect next year.
This ruling comes in light of the sexual assault allegations that have been levied against actor Bill Cosby. This bill, however, will not affect the allegations against Cosby that date back over ten years ago.
In a statement, California state legislator Connie Levya said that the bill’s signing “tells every rape and sexual assault victim in California that they matter and that, regardless of when they are ready to come forward, they will always have an opportunity to seek justice in a court of law Rapists should never be able to evade legal consequences simply because an arbitrary time limit has expired. There must never be an expiration date on justice.”
As of now 17 other states have no statute of limitations for rape. Recently, Colorado doubled their time limit from 10 to 20 years, and Nevada changed their limit from 4 to 20 years. Both were prompted by the Cosby case.
