The statute of limitations on assault sets how long prosecutors have to file charges after the incident, and it varies by state and severity: misdemeanor assault generally must be charged within one to two years, while felony assault typically allows three to seven. Once that window closes, the case cannot go forward.
Typical Deadlines by Severity
Simple or misdemeanor assault, which usually involves minor injury or a credible threat of harm, carries the shortest filing window. Across most states, prosecutors have one to two years from the date of the offense to bring charges. A handful of states allow longer.
Aggravated or felony assault extends that window. Charges involving a weapon, serious bodily injury, or intent to commit another felony during the assault typically give prosecutors three to seven years, with the exact deadline tied to the state and the degree of the felony. States that impose no time limit at all on certain violent felonies generally reserve that treatment for offenses resulting in death, which would be charged as homicide rather than assault.
Federal Assault Charges
Assault on federal land, a military base, or within other areas of special federal jurisdiction is prosecuted under federal law rather than state law.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 113 The federal statute of limitations for non-capital offenses is five years: no one can be prosecuted, tried, or punished unless the indictment is found or the charge is filed within five years of the offense.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 3282 – Offenses Not Capital If the assault results in death and qualifies as a capital offense, there is no time limit.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3281
When the Clock Starts
In almost every criminal assault case, the clock starts on the date of the alleged offense. The countdown begins the moment the act is complete, not when the victim reports it and not when police open an investigation.
This trips people up. It is common to assume the deadline runs from the police report or the arrest. It does not. The date of the offense controls, which is why a delay in reporting can wreck a prosecution even when the evidence is otherwise strong.
What Can Pause or Extend the Deadline
Certain circumstances pause the statute of limitations, a concept lawyers call tolling. When the clock is tolled, it stops temporarily and resumes once the tolling condition ends.
Fleeing the Jurisdiction
If the accused leaves the state or hides from law enforcement, the clock typically stops until they return or are found. Federal law is absolute on this: no statute of limitations extends to anyone fleeing from justice.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3290 – Fugitives From Justice Most states have similar provisions. Someone who commits an assault and disappears for a decade cannot come back and claim the deadline has passed.
Minor Victims
When the victim is a child, most states pause the statute of limitations until the victim turns 18. A child cannot be expected to navigate the legal system or even recognize that a crime occurred. Once the victim reaches the age of majority, the normal deadline begins to run. In a state with a five-year felony assault deadline, a victim who was 10 at the time of the offense would have until age 23 before the window closes.
Active Military Service
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act excludes the period of active military service from filing deadlines. It applies whether the servicemember is bringing a claim or defending against one, and it does not require deployment overseas or any showing that service actually interfered with the case.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 US Code 3936 – Statute of Limitations
Mental Incapacity
Most states pause the statute of limitations during periods when the victim lacks the mental capacity to recognize what happened or take legal action. This can apply when an assault leaves the victim in a coma, causes severe cognitive impairment, or when a pre-existing condition prevents the victim from understanding the legal significance of the event. When capacity is restored, the clock resumes.
The Discovery Rule
Tolling pauses a clock that has already started. The discovery rule is different. It delays when the clock begins in the first place, holding that the statute of limitations does not start until the victim knew, or reasonably should have known, that they were harmed.
In most assault cases this rule is irrelevant, because the harm is obvious the moment it happens. It can matter with delayed psychological trauma: if a victim only connects a later-developing psychological condition to the assault after a professional diagnosis, some jurisdictions allow the clock to start at that point of realization rather than the date of the incident. Courts apply the exception cautiously, and it comes up far more often in civil cases than criminal ones.
Sexual Assault Is Treated Differently
Sexual assault is the area where these deadlines have changed most dramatically in recent years. At least 14 states have eliminated criminal statutes of limitations entirely for certain sex crimes, and the trend toward longer windows or outright elimination has continued.6FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. Statutes of Limitation in Sexual Assault Cases Some changes apply retroactively to offenses that occurred before the new law was enacted, though retroactivity has constitutional limits described below.
At the federal level, there is no statute of limitations for prosecuting sex crimes against a minor. Many states take the same approach and combine the elimination of time limits with tolling during the victim’s childhood. If a sexual assault situation is on the table, check the current law in the relevant state, because the rules may have shifted since the offense occurred.
Civil Lawsuits Run on a Separate Clock
Everything above concerns criminal prosecution, where the government brings charges. Assault victims can also sue for money damages, and a civil lawsuit has its own statute of limitations that runs independently of the criminal timeline.
Civil deadlines for assault and battery are usually shorter than their criminal counterparts. Most states set the window at one to three years from the date of the injury, tracking the personal injury deadlines that apply to car accidents and slip-and-fall cases. Missing the civil deadline means losing the right to sue for compensation, even if criminal charges are still viable or a conviction has already been obtained. The two clocks run at the same time, and the civil one is often the shorter of the two.
What Happens After the Deadline Passes
Once the statute of limitations expires, the effect is permanent. A prosecutor who misses the deadline is barred from bringing charges for that offense. A confession the next day, new forensic evidence, a victim who only recently came forward: none of it changes the outcome.
A defendant can raise an expired statute of limitations as a complete defense, and the court must dismiss the charges. It is not discretionary. If the time has run and no tolling provision applies, the case is over.
One constitutional limit deserves attention when legislatures try to fix short deadlines after the fact. A new, longer deadline can apply to offenses where the old deadline had not yet expired when the new law took effect. But the government cannot revive a case where the prior statute of limitations had already fully run. Doing so would violate the constitutional prohibition on ex post facto laws. Once a deadline has expired, it stays expired, even if the legislature later decides the original window was too short.