In California, the statute of limitations for sex crimes depends on the offense and the victim’s age. The most serious felony sex offenses carry no time limit at all. Felony sex offenses against a victim under 18 can be prosecuted until the victim turns 40. A 10-year deadline covers other felony sex offenses that require sex offender registration. Every one of these extended timelines comes with a catch: it only helps if the older, shorter deadline had not already expired when the current law took effect.
The rules live in Penal Code sections 799, 801.1, and 803. The label “AB 39” is sometimes attached to this topic, but the 2019–2020 AB 39 concerned education finance. The real reforms came through other bills, notably SB 813 in 2016.
Felony Sex Offenses With No Time Limit
Under Penal Code section 799, prosecutors can file charges at any time for the most serious felony sex offenses. The list includes rape, sodomy by force, forcible oral copulation, lewd acts on a child involving substantial sexual conduct, aggravated lewd acts on a child under 14, and continuous sexual abuse of a child, among others.1California Legislative Information. California Penal Code PEN 799 Charges can be filed 10, 30, or 50 years after the offense if the evidence supports a case.
The unlimited window applies to crimes committed on or after January 1, 2017. It also reaches back to older offenses, but only if the earlier statute of limitations had not yet expired by that date.1California Legislative Information. California Penal Code PEN 799
Charges Against Child Sex Offenders Until the Victim Turns 40
For felony sex offenses committed against a victim under 18 that fall outside section 799, Penal Code section 801.1 lets prosecutors file charges any time before the victim’s 40th birthday. The covered offenses include rape, sodomy, oral copulation, lewd acts with a child, continuous sexual abuse of a child, and sexual penetration.2California Legislative Information. California Code Penal Code 801.1 The longer window reflects how often survivors of childhood sexual abuse do not come forward until well into adulthood.
This rule applies to crimes committed on or after January 1, 2015, and to older crimes where the prior statute of limitations had not yet run out by that date.2California Legislative Information. California Code Penal Code 801.1
The 10-Year Default for Other Registrable Offenses
When neither the unlimited provision nor the 40th-birthday rule applies, a 10-year statute of limitations governs felony sex offenses that require sex offender registration.2California Legislative Information. California Code Penal Code 801.1 Other felonies fall under shorter, generally applicable deadlines.
Put together, the analysis for any old case runs in three questions. Is the offense on the section 799(b) list, and was it committed on or after January 1, 2017, or still within its old deadline on that date? If yes, no time limit. If not, was the victim under 18 and the offense one of those listed in section 801.1, with the same 2015 timing check? If yes, charges can be filed until the victim turns 40. If neither applies, the 10-year clock governs registrable felonies.
The DNA Identification Exception
California opens another door for cases that would otherwise be time-barred. Under Penal Code section 803(g), when a suspect is conclusively identified through DNA testing, prosecutors have one year from that identification to file charges, regardless of when the crime happened. The offense must be one that requires sex offender registration, and the DNA analysis must have been completed within timeframes set by the statute depending on the age of the case.3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 803 This provision has been useful in cold cases where biological evidence was collected at the time but could not be tested with the technology then available.
Why Expired Deadlines Cannot Be Revived
Each extended timeline carries the same caveat. If the old statute of limitations had already run before the newer law took effect, the case stays closed. The U.S. Supreme Court decided this issue in Stogner v. California, holding that a law enacted after a previously applicable limitations period had expired violates the Ex Post Facto Clause when applied to revive a time-barred prosecution.4Justia US Supreme Court. Stogner v. California, 539 U.S. 607 (2003)
The specific dates in the statutes therefore matter. A crime committed in 2000 with a 6-year deadline expired in 2006. No later reform can reopen that prosecution, even if the same offense would carry no time limit today. Survivors and prosecutors run into this wall often, which is part of why the legislature has pushed the dates forward in successive reforms.
Due Process Limits on Very Old Prosecutions
Even when a case falls inside the statute of limitations, a defendant charged decades after the alleged offense can argue that the delay itself violated the right to a fair trial. The bar is high. The defendant must show both that the delay actually impaired the defense and that it resulted from improper government conduct. Vague complaints about fading memories will not do. Specific lost evidence or unavailable witnesses have to be identified.
Courts have held that a victim’s reluctance to report is not government misconduct. In childhood sexual abuse cases, where delayed disclosure is common, judges rarely find a due process violation based on reporting delay alone. The larger the gap between offense and prosecution, though, the more room a defense has to argue that a fair trial is no longer possible.
Civil Lawsuits Run on a Separate Clock
The rules above govern criminal charges by the state. Survivors who want to sue for money damages follow a different set of deadlines under Code of Civil Procedure section 340.1. For childhood sexual assault occurring on or after January 1, 2024, there is no time limit on a civil claim. For older abuse, prior versions of the statute apply, and civil plaintiffs age 40 or older must submit certificates of merit, including a declaration from a licensed mental health practitioner supporting the claim.5California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 340.1
The Federal Option
Some sex offenses can be prosecuted federally, and 18 U.S.C. § 3299 sets no statute of limitations for felonies involving sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of children, sex trafficking, or child abduction with a minor victim.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3299 – Child Abduction and Sex Offenses Federal jurisdiction usually requires an interstate element or another federal hook, so most abuse occurring within California is prosecuted under state law. Where the federal path is available, it carries its own unlimited clock.