Something that people may not realize, is that there is actually a time limit for when a person can be charged with a specific crime. This time limit is referred to as a statute of limitations. This is done as a way to help protect people from being accused of things they did years ago. The practice comes from ancient Greece where a statute of limitations of 5 years was placed on all crimes save for homicide, for which there was no time limit.

The practice is still used in modern law today to help prevent abuse from occurring. However, instead of a flat 5 year limitation across all crimes, specific types of crimes have different statutes of limitations.

Why Statutes of Limitations Exist

Statute of limitations exist to protect people from prosecution for crimes that happened years ago...