Murder is the crime most people associate with no filing deadline, but the full list of crimes with no statute of limitations is longer. Under federal law, any offense punishable by death can be charged at any time, and Congress has separately removed the clock for terrorism resulting in death, felony sex offenses against children, genocide, and certain war crimes. At the state level, every jurisdiction treats murder as exempt, and a growing number of states have eliminated deadlines for serious sex offenses and some other violent felonies. Whether a specific crime has a deadline depends on where it was committed and whether it violates federal or state law.
Murder Is Exempt Everywhere
Every state treats murder as either explicitly exempt from its statute of limitations or subject to no deadline because the offense is punishable by death or life imprisonment. The pattern holds across all fifty jurisdictions, from Alabama’s exemption for capital offenses to Wyoming’s blanket elimination of time limits for all criminal prosecutions.1Justia. Criminal Statutes of Limitations: 50-State Survey Federal law reaches the same result through a general rule: any death-eligible offense may be charged at any time.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3281 – Capital Offenses
This is the legal foundation of cold case work. A person who committed a murder in 1985 can still be indicted today if new evidence surfaces.
Federal Crimes With No Filing Deadline
Most federal crimes carry a five-year statute of limitations.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3282 – Offenses Not Capital Congress has carved out several categories that can be prosecuted indefinitely, each with its own statute.
Any Offense Punishable by Death
The broadest exemption is also the simplest. Any federal crime punishable by death has no filing deadline.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3281 – Capital Offenses That single provision sweeps in federal murder, treason,4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2381 – Treason and espionage that results in an intelligence agent’s death or involves nuclear weapons, satellite systems, or other major defense secrets.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 794 – Gathering or Delivering Defense Information to Aid Foreign Government
Terrorism Causing Death or Risk of Death
Federal terrorism offenses that result in death, or create a foreseeable risk of death or serious bodily injury, carry no statute of limitations. The provision covers conduct ranging from destroying aircraft to using weapons of mass destruction, so long as someone died or faced a real risk of death. Terrorism offenses that do not involve death or serious injury get an extended eight-year window rather than the standard five.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3286 – Extension of Statute of Limitation for Certain Terrorism Offenses
Child Sex Offenses, Kidnapping of a Minor, and Sex Trafficking
Federal law eliminates the statute of limitations entirely for kidnapping involving a minor, any felony-level sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of children, transportation for illegal sexual activity, and sex trafficking.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3299 – Child Abduction and Sex Offenses The practical consequence matters: even where a state deadline has expired, federal prosecutors can sometimes bring charges under these provisions, particularly in cases involving interstate activity or online exploitation.
Genocide and War Crimes
Two further federal statutes remove time limits for the most extreme offenses. The genocide statute allows prosecution at any time for acts committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, including killing, causing serious bodily injury, or forcibly transferring children.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1091 – Genocide War crimes committed by or against U.S. nationals or members of the U.S. Armed Forces also have no deadline when they involve murder or torture.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2441 – War Crimes These provisions let the United States prosecute individuals who enter the country decades after committing atrocities abroad.
State Crimes Beyond Murder
State legislatures have been steadily expanding the list of crimes with no filing deadline, and the trend has accelerated over the past decade. The biggest expansion has come in sex offenses.
Sex Offenses
At least 14 states have eliminated the statute of limitations entirely for certain sex crimes, many of them focused on offenses against children. More than two dozen states now allow prosecution of at least some sexual assault charges with no time limit. The specific coverage varies: some states exempt only forcible rape, others include all sexual contact with a minor, and a few have removed deadlines for virtually all felony-level sex offenses.1Justia. Criminal Statutes of Limitations: 50-State Survey California, Texas, and Vermont are among the states that have moved most aggressively.
Kidnapping and Blanket Exemptions
Several states have also removed time limits for kidnapping, particularly when the victim is a child. A few go much further. South Carolina and Wyoming have eliminated statutes of limitations for all criminal prosecutions, and Kentucky and Maryland have no time limits for any felony.1Justia. Criminal Statutes of Limitations: 50-State Survey Because the rules vary so much, the only reliable way to confirm whether a specific offense is exempt is to check the criminal code of the state where the crime occurred.
When the Clock Stops or Resets
Even for crimes that technically do have a filing deadline, the clock does not always run continuously. Two mechanisms can pause it or restart it, and both come up in cases that are eventually prosecuted years later.
Tolling
Tolling means the clock stops running temporarily. The most common trigger is when the suspect flees the jurisdiction or takes steps to avoid detection. Under federal law, the limitations period does not run while a person is a fugitive from justice, and most states have similar rules. Some jurisdictions also toll the clock while a suspect’s identity is unknown, or while the crime itself remains undiscovered. Under this “discovery rule,” the limitations period does not begin until the offense is discovered or reasonably should have been discovered.10Legal Information Institute. Statute of Limitations
DNA Exceptions
Advances in DNA analysis have prompted both Congress and state legislatures to create special rules for cases where genetic evidence identifies a suspect. At the federal level, when DNA testing implicates a specific person in a felony, the limitations period effectively resets: prosecutors get an additional period equal to the original window, running from the date the DNA evidence pointed to the suspect.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3297 – Cases Involving DNA Evidence Many states have gone further. Florida and Georgia, for example, allow prosecution at any time when DNA evidence establishes a suspect’s identity for certain violent and sexual offenses.
These provisions are why cold case units have become so productive. A rape kit that sat in a warehouse for 20 years can still lead to charges if it finally produces a DNA match, even when the original deadline would have expired long ago.
Constitutional Limits on Very Old Prosecutions
Removing the statute of limitations does not give prosecutors unlimited power. When charges arrive decades after the alleged crime, the defendant still has constitutional protections.
The Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial does not attach until a person is formally accused through arrest or indictment. Before that point, protection against unfair delay comes from the Due Process Clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Supreme Court set the framework in United States v. Lovasco: a defendant challenging pre-indictment delay must show two things.12Legal Information Institute. United States v. Lovasco First, the delay must have actually harmed the defense, with specific lost evidence or unavailable witnesses rather than general claims about fading memories. Second, the reason for the delay must be improper, such as prosecutors sitting on the case to gain a tactical advantage. Delay caused by ongoing investigation or late reporting by the victim will almost always be found acceptable.
In practice, this is a very hard standard for defendants to meet. For crimes with no statute of limitations, the constitutional safety valve exists but rarely stops a prosecution from going forward.