About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

45 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 115 (2008)
Unraveling Criminal Statutes of Limitations

handle is hein.journals/amcrimlr45 and id is 117 raw text is: UNRAVELING CRIMINAL STATUTES OF LIMITATIONS Lindsey Powell* INTRODUCTION ........................................... 115 I. TIHE GENERAL RULE AND ITS EXCEPTIONS ..................... 121 A. A Brief History and Overview of the General Rule .......... 121 B. The New Trend Toward Exceptions ..................... 124 II. REASONS FOR THE RULE AND ITS EXCEPTIONS .................. 128 A. Traditional Rationales ............................... 129 B. Fitting the Changing Rule to Traditional Rationales? ........ 131 C. Explaining the Shift: Retributivism and Victims' Rights ....... 135 I. A RULE-BASED APPROACH TO RESTORING THE BALANCE ............ 140 A. Disadvantages Typical of a Rule-Based Approach ........... 140 B. Additional Disadvantages of a Rule-Based Approach to Preindictment Delay ................................ 143 IV. AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO RESTORING THE BALANCE ........... 145 A. Advantages and Disadvantages of a Hybrid Approach ........ 145 B. Learning from Existing Models ........................ 147 C. A Proposal for Going Forward ........................ 149 CONCLUSION . ............................................ 153 APPENDIX: TInELINE OF THE RULE AND ITS EXCEPTIONS ................. 154 INTRODUCTION Criminal statutes of limitations, which have been a hallmark of American law since the Founding,1 are meant to represent legislative assessments of relative interests of the State and the defendant in administering and receiving justice.2 Without interfering unduly with the state's ability to prosecute offenses, limita- tions periods are designed to further two sets of interests. First, they are intended to promote fairness by protect[ing] individuals from having to defend themselves against charges when the basic facts may have become obscured by the passage of * J.D., Stanford Law School. Much thanks to Jessica Bulman-Pozen, Barbara Fried, Tom Grey, Joshua Kaul, Bob Weisberg, and the members of Stanford's Legal Studies Workshop for their suggestions and encouragement. © 2008, Lindsey Powell. 1. Act of Apr. 30, 1790, ch. 9, § 32, 1 Stat. 112, 119 (providing a three-year limitations period for capital offenses other than forgery and willful murder and a two-year period for most other offenses). Such statutes also existed in the colonies. See W.jAm H. WntrrmoRE, COLONIAL LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS 163 (1889) (noting that Massachusetts provided a one-year statute of limitations for most crimes as early as 1652). 2. United States v. Marion, 404 U.S. 307, 322 (1971).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most