How long after an incident you can press charges depends almost entirely on the seriousness of the offense. Most misdemeanors have to be charged within one to two years. Most felonies within five to ten. A short list of the most serious crimes, including murder, carries no deadline at all. These filing windows, called statutes of limitations, are set separately by each state and by federal law, and several rules can extend or pause them.
You Report, the Prosecutor Charges
“Pressing charges” is a phrase people use loosely, and it hides the part that matters for timing. Victims do not file criminal charges. Prosecutors do. Your job as a victim or witness is to report the crime to police, cooperate with the investigation, and hand over what evidence you have. The prosecutor’s office then decides whether to file, what to file, and whether the evidence is strong enough to go forward. A prosecutor can decline to charge even when you insist, and can charge even when you ask them not to.
This matters for deadlines because the clock stops only when the prosecutor formally files an indictment or complaint, not when you walk into a police station. Report on the last day of the limitations period and the window may close before any paperwork gets filed. Reporting early gives prosecutors room to investigate and charge in time.
Deadlines by Crime Severity
Every state writes its own statutes of limitations, but the pattern is consistent: less serious crimes get shorter windows, more serious ones get longer.
Misdemeanors
Minor offenses like petty theft, simple assault, or disorderly conduct usually carry a one- to two-year filing deadline. Some states set it at 12 months, others at two years, and a handful allow slightly longer for specific misdemeanor categories. The short window reflects both the lower stakes and how quickly evidence for minor offenses goes stale.
Felonies
Serious crimes carry longer deadlines, but the range is wide. A straightforward burglary might have a five-year window. Complex fraud or financial crimes can often be prosecuted for ten years or more. At the federal level, the default for any non-capital felony is five years.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3282 – Offenses Not Capital Financial institution crimes such as bank fraud carry a ten-year federal deadline.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3293 – Financial Institution Offenses
Crimes With No Deadline
Some crimes are too serious to let the clock run out. Murder is the most familiar example. Under federal law, any offense punishable by death can be prosecuted at any time.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3281 – Capital Offenses Genocide has no federal deadline regardless of whether the death penalty applies.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 1091 – Genocide Federal terrorism offenses resulting in death or serious bodily injury also have no time limit.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3286 – Extension of Statute of Limitation for Certain Terrorism Offenses And at both federal and state levels, certain sexual offenses against children now carry no deadline at all.
Federal Deadlines Follow a Separate Track
Federal crimes work on their own tiered system. Most federal felonies must be charged within five years.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3282 – Offenses Not Capital Noncapital terrorism offenses get eight years, and terrorism that caused death or a foreseeable risk of death or serious bodily injury has no deadline.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3286 – Extension of Statute of Limitation for Certain Terrorism Offenses Bank fraud, embezzlement from a financial institution, and related offenses carry ten years.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3293 – Financial Institution Offenses Any capital offense can be charged at any time.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3281 – Capital Offenses Federal law also eliminates the deadline entirely for kidnapping of a minor, sexual abuse, child pornography offenses, and sex trafficking.6Congress.gov. Statute of Limitation in Federal Criminal Cases: An Overview
When the same conduct could be charged either federally or under state law, the two sets of deadlines run independently.
When the Clock Starts and What Pauses It
The limitations period normally begins the day the crime is completed. For a robbery, that’s the day of the robbery. For tax fraud, it’s the day the fraudulent return was filed. Several legal doctrines shift that start date or freeze the clock.
The Discovery Rule
Some crimes are built to stay hidden. Embezzlement, fraud, and financial exploitation of vulnerable adults often go undetected for years because the offender is actively concealing what they’re doing. For these offenses, many jurisdictions start the clock on the date the crime was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered, rather than the date it was committed. That keeps a thief from running out the clock while the victim has no idea anything was taken.
Continuing Offenses
Some crimes aren’t a single event but an ongoing course of conduct. Conspiracy is the classic example. The clock doesn’t start until the last act in furtherance of the conspiracy takes place.7United States Department of Justice. Criminal Resource Manual 651 – Statute of Limitations for Continuing Offenses Ongoing possession of contraband and concealment of bankruptcy assets work the same way. If the behavior spans years, the deadline doesn’t start ticking until it stops.
Fugitive Tolling
Running from the law doesn’t burn down the clock. Under federal law, no statute of limitations applies to a person who flees from justice.8United States Department of Justice Archives. Criminal Resource Manual 657 – Tolling of Statute of Limitations Most states have similar rules. The period freezes while the suspect is evading law enforcement and resumes when they’re found or return. Courts have held that physical absence from the state isn’t always required; actively hiding from authorities within the jurisdiction can also qualify.
DNA Evidence
Federal law provides a special extension when DNA testing identifies a suspect after the original deadline has passed. If DNA evidence implicates an identified person in a felony, prosecutors get a fresh limitations period equal to the original deadline, running from the date the DNA results point to the suspect.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3297 – Cases Involving DNA Evidence A number of states have adopted similar rules, which has mattered most in cold-case sexual assaults where a rape kit sat untested for years.
Sex Crimes: The Rules Have Been Shifting
Over the past decade, state legislatures have significantly expanded filing windows for sexual offenses, especially those involving children. At least 14 states have eliminated criminal statutes of limitations entirely for certain sex crimes, and many others have pushed their deadlines well beyond previous limits.10FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. Statutes of Limitation in Sexual Assault Cases Several states now let criminal charges for child sexual abuse be filed decades after the victim turns 18.
There is a constitutional limit on how far these reforms can reach. In Stogner v. California (2003), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5–4 that a state cannot revive a criminal prosecution after the original statute of limitations has already expired. Doing so violates the Ex Post Facto Clause.11Cornell Law Institute. Stogner v. California Legislators can extend a limitations period that hasn’t yet run out. They cannot bring back one that has.10FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. Statutes of Limitation in Sexual Assault Cases
That constitutional rule applies only to criminal cases. Civil lawsuits are different. Several states have opened temporary lookback windows allowing survivors to file civil claims for childhood sexual abuse even when the old civil deadline passed long ago, and those civil revival laws have generally survived legal challenges.
If You Think the Deadline Has Already Passed
Once a criminal statute of limitations expires, a prosecutor generally cannot file charges for that offense. If they file anyway, the defense can move to dismiss, and the court will almost certainly grant it. Expiration is one of the strongest procedural defenses in criminal law.
A few options may still be open even after the criminal window closes. A civil lawsuit may still be viable, with its own separate deadlines and a lower burden of proof; a civil suit can’t put anyone in jail, but it can produce financial compensation. The tolling rules may not have been applied to your timeline yet — if the offender fled, concealed the crime, or was identified through later DNA testing, the clock may have paused or restarted without anyone realizing. And if your state extended or eliminated the statute of limitations for the relevant offense before your old deadline expired, the longer window applies to your case.
What you cannot do is wait for a legislature to retroactively revive a criminal case whose deadline has already run. Stogner forecloses that.11Cornell Law Institute. Stogner v. California
Report Early, and Ask a Lawyer If You’re Unsure
Statutes of limitations sound like simple math: count the years from the crime. The calculation rarely works that cleanly. Discovery rules, tolling, legislative changes, and questions about when the crime was actually completed can move the deadline by months or years. If you’re not sure where you stand, a criminal attorney in your jurisdiction can map the actual timeline.
And report crimes early no matter what the deadline says. Evidence degrades, witnesses forget, surveillance footage gets overwritten, and physical evidence disappears. A case reported within weeks is almost always stronger than one reported years later, whatever the statute technically allows. The legal deadline is a ceiling, not a target.