Why is there a statute of limitations? Because after a certain amount of time has passed, evidence and people’s memories may no longer be dependable enough to fairly charge somebody and the evidence needed to prove their innocence may no longer exist.
This is a difficult question because not every country has a statute of limitations and those that do don’t have them for all crimes. I’m going to look at the UK and the US because those are the two areas I am most connected to. In the UK, there is no statute of limitations for any type of criminal case, but there are limitations for civil cases. Tort claims must be brought within 6 years. A tort claim covers breach of contract, and a whole range of things that cause harm to a person’s well-being or infringes on their rights. Fraud claims must also be brought with 6 years, but this is 6 years after the fraud was detected and not 6 years after the fraud was carried out. Personal injury claims, accidental death, and medical negligence claims must be made within 3 years. Claims on the quality of work in building construction can be brought up to 15 years later, which is presumably because it might take a while for these to be discovered. Defamation claims must be brought within one year, although the judge can extend that. However, there is no statute on criminal cases and they will be tried if and when there is enough evidence. There has been some discussion that there should be a statute of limitations introduced on sexual assault cases because there is often no evidence and it comes down to people’s testimony and memory, which are not always accurate after a long time.
The US has statutes of limitations for civil cases and also for criminal cases. However, there is no statute of limitations for murder or war crimes. Some states also have no statute of limitation for sexual offenses against a minor and violent crimes, but many states do. The problem with these statutes in the US is that each state is able to set its own legal code and limitations can vary depending on what state you are charged in. The US also has a federal system, which has a separate system of limitations again. It can become very confusing. The statute of limitations might also be suspended if the defendant is a fugitive and the judge will suspend proceedings until they are apprehended.
Statutes of limitations have existed since there was a system of law. The Ancient Greeks had a statute of limitations of five years for any crime except murder and this was written into Roman Law as well. The system of Roman Law was carried across Europe and became the basis for the law in each country there, before being carried across the world during the age of exploration.
So, why is there a statute of limitations? There are five reasons. The law has to be balanced to take into account the rights of the accused, the right of the defendant to accuse, the judicial system, the rights of the government, and the rights of regular people when faced by the government. In most modern democracies, a person is innocent until the are proven guilty. This is one of the basic rights of an accused person and to support this, they must be able to defend their innocence. If so much time has passed that people’s memory of the event is foggy, or it is too difficult to get evidence, it would not be right to prosecute that person. On the other hand, the defendant must be allowed to accuse a person and they must be able to bring the best case that they can. If the evidence is so old that it is impossible to prove the accusation, it is not fair on the defendant. The system also exists so that the judicial system doesn’t get bogged down with old cases that are not provable. And the last two reasons are for the government. The government doesn’t want to be held hostage for things that it has done in the past and doesn’t want people accusing it of things previous administrations of have done. Also, people don’t want the government to be able to constantly hold things that they have done in the past over their heads. For all of these reasons, statues of limitations exist, but some crimes are so bad that they should always be tried, and murder is one of these. And this is what I learned today.
Photo by KATRIN BOLOVTSOVA: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-wooden-gavel-on-brown-wooden-table-6077326/
Sources
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/statute-of-limitations.asp
https://www.netlawman.co.uk/ia/time-limits-claims
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/wealth-management/statute-of-limitations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_limitations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limitation_periods_in_the_United_Kingdom