The statute of limitations for California Penal Code 288 depends on when the offense happened. For any lewd or lascivious act with a child under 14 committed on or after January 1, 2017, there is no deadline — prosecutors can file charges at any time. For older offenses, the filing window may still be open under a rule that runs until the victim turns 40, a 10-year fallback period, or specific exceptions tied to delayed reporting or DNA identification.
Offenses With No Filing Deadline
Senate Bill 813, the Justice for Victims Act, took effect on January 1, 2017 and amended Penal Code 799 to eliminate the statute of limitations for Penal Code 288 offenses along with other serious sex crimes. 1California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 288 If the conduct occurred on or after that date, prosecutors face no clock at all.
The elimination also reaches backward. Any older Penal Code 288 offense whose prior statute of limitations had not yet expired by January 1, 2017 falls under the no-deadline rule as well. Even a single remaining day on the old clock pulls the case into open-ended territory. Because California had already been extending filing periods for child sex offenses in the years leading up to 2017, this reach-back covers more cases than it might first appear.
The Victim’s 40th Birthday Rule
When the no-deadline rule does not apply, Penal Code 801.1 allows prosecution any time before the victim turns 40. 2California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 801.1 This rule covers Penal Code 288 offenses committed on or after January 1, 2015, and older offenses whose statute of limitations had not expired by that date.
In practice, this provision tends to matter most for cases in the narrow gap between the 2015 and 2017 effective dates — offenses where the prior deadline ran out before SB 813 could eliminate it, but after the 40th-birthday rule took hold.
The 10-Year Fallback for Older Cases
If neither the no-deadline rule nor the 40th-birthday rule reaches the offense, Penal Code 801.1 provides one more backstop: a 10-year statute of limitations measured from the date of the offense. 2California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 801.1 This applies to felony sex offenses that require registration under Penal Code 290, a category that includes Penal Code 288 violations.
For older cases where no legislative expansion arrived in time, this 10-year period is the original window prosecutors faced. Once it lapsed without charges and without one of the exceptions below being triggered, the prosecution window closed permanently.
Delayed Reporting Exception
California law recognizes that victims of childhood sexual abuse often come forward years or decades later. Penal Code 803(f) creates a path to prosecution even after the standard deadline has run. 3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 803 – Time of Commencing Criminal Actions When a person of any age reports to a California law enforcement agency that they were the victim of a Penal Code 288 offense while under 18, prosecutors get a fresh one-year window to file a criminal complaint from the date of that report.
The exception comes with conditions. It applies only when the normal statute of limitations has already expired. The offense must have involved “substantial sexual conduct” as defined under Penal Code 1203.066, which covers penetration, oral copulation, or masturbation of either the victim or the offender. 4California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1203.066 There must also be independent evidence corroborating the victim’s account. If the victim is 21 or older when they report, that corroboration must be clear and convincing. Victims under 21 at the time of reporting face a lower corroboration threshold.
DNA Evidence Exception
Penal Code 803(g) creates a separate exception tied to forensic identification. If a suspect is conclusively identified through DNA testing, prosecutors can file a complaint within one year of that identification, even if the standard limitations period has long since expired. 3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 803 – Time of Commencing Criminal Actions This applies to offenses that require sex offender registration, which includes Penal Code 288.
Strict timing governs when the biological evidence must have been analyzed. For offenses committed before January 1, 2001, the DNA analysis must have been completed by January 1, 2004. For offenses committed on or after January 1, 2001, the analysis must have occurred within two years of the offense. If those analysis windows were missed, this exception is unavailable. The practical effect is that the DNA exception works best when evidence was collected and processed promptly but the suspect remained unknown until a later database match.
Events That Pause the Clock
Separate from the exceptions that create new filing windows, California law also pauses the statute of limitations in specific situations. Time that passes during a pause does not count against the deadline.
The most common trigger is the suspect leaving California. Any time the defendant spends outside the state after the offense does not count toward the limitations period, up to a maximum of three years. Someone facing a 10-year deadline who spent two years out of state would effectively give prosecutors 12 years from the date of the offense. The clock also pauses during any period when criminal charges for the same conduct are already pending against the same person in a California court. 3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 803 – Time of Commencing Criminal Actions
For offenses that now carry no statute of limitations under Penal Code 799, tolling is irrelevant. There is no clock to pause when there is no deadline.
Civil Deadlines Are Separate
The deadlines above govern criminal prosecution only. A victim’s ability to sue for monetary damages runs on its own schedule under California Code of Civil Procedure 340.1, and the civil window is often open when the criminal one has closed, or vice versa. For childhood sexual assaults occurring on or after January 1, 2024, Section 340.1 imposes no time limit on civil suits at all. 5California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 340.1 Whether charges can still be filed in a specific case turns on the criminal rules; whether a lawsuit can still be filed turns on the civil ones.