Both Criminal and Civil Cases general have statute of limitations. For example, you may have only one year to bring a civil lawsuit against someone who inflicted an intentional tort on you. It is meant to allow people to move on, provide closure, and limit potential frivolous claims which a person may be unable to later defend against. There is now no statute of limitations for criminal charges of rape and aggravated sodomy in Kansas. Last week, Governor Sam Brownback recently signed into law a bill that eliminates the statute of limitations for these charges. It's House Bill 2252, which allows victims of other violent sexual crimes 10 years after turning age 18 to report the crime. The intention is to help those who were molested by a family member and were afraid to report while they were still at home. About 20 other states have similar no statute of limitations. Currently, there are only three other criminal charges in Kansas which don't have a statute of limitations. These include murder and two terrorism-related charges.
Hopefully, the district attorney will use this wisely and there will be more good that comes out of the new bill than people who are wrongfully attacked or accused, by people inappropriately using this new open door. It will surely open new criminal litigation for criminal defense lawyers to deal with.