Portantino Bill Would Eliminate Rape Statute of Limitations

Local lawmaker Anthony Portantino, D- La Canada Flintridge, introduced a bill which would eliminate the statute of limitations on rape charges.

Currently, prosecutors cannot file charges once 10 years has passed since the crime occurred.

Physical evidence that could catch rapists sometimes takes a significant amount of time to process: in 2008, for example, the Los Angeles Police Department admitted that it had a backlog of 6,000 unprocessed rape kits, some of which dated back more than 10 years.

Portantino, who also represents Altadena, introduced legislation last year mandating that rape kits get processed in a timely fashion, but it was vetoed.

In a press release, Portantino called the current statute of limitation "arbitrary" and suggested that because law enforcement sometimes lags on rape kits, the 10-year limit is especially problematic.  Eliminating the 10-year limit would be an alternate solution to mandating timely rape kit testing, he said.

"While justice delayed, is justice denied; a statute of limitations that terminates prosecution because we do not want to spend money testing rape kits is unconscionable," Portantino wrote.