Statute of Limitations

• Missouri, like every other U.S. state, restricts the time during which a person can be prosecuted for a crime. This restriction is called a statute of limitations. The allotted time for filing criminal charges is called the "prescriptive period," and this varies depending on the type of sexual abuse committed. If charges are not filed against the abuser by or on the last day of the prescriptive period, the claim expires and no charges may ever be filed.
  
  

Non-Consensual Sexual Behavior

• Non-consensual sexual behavior includes any unwanted sexual advances a person makes towards another. A person does not need to be of the opposite sex to make advances. You do need to express refusal; the individual's failure to obtain consent before making a sexual advance is all that is required for non-consensual sexual behavior.
  
  Non-consensual sexual behavior is a misdemeanor and is subject to a one-year prescriptive period under the statute of limitations. There is no toll or extension of the one-year prescriptive period for these charges.
  
  

Sexual Assault

• Missouri law defines sexual assault as any "sexual intercourse with another person [while] knowing that he does so without that person's consent" (RMSo § 566.040.1). Sexual assault is similar to rape except in cases of sexual assault, the victim does not necessarily object to the assault, whether due to intoxication, incapacity or unawareness.
  
  Sexual assault is classified as a Class C felony in Missouri and, as such, is restricted by a three-year statute of limitations.
  
  

Child Molestation

• The statute of limitations for child molestation varies depending on the classification of the crime. Child molestation in the second degree, when the victim is less than 17 years but at least 14 years of age, carries a prescriptive period of one year. Second-degree molestation by a repeat offender carries a three-year prescriptive period.
  
  Child molestation in the first degree, when the victim is younger than 14 years of age, also carries a statute of limitations of three years. If the offender was previously convicted of a sex crime, the prescriptive period does not expire and charges may be filed at any time.
  
  

Sexual Misconduct

• Sexual misconduct is defined as any act wherein the offender exposes his genitals to a child under the age of 15, whether in person or online, for the purposes of sexual gratification or intending to cause shock to the victim. Sexual misconduct is a Class D felony regardless of how the misconduct occurred and a Class C felony if the offender was previously convicted of a sex crime. In Missouri, both carry a prescriptive period of no more than three years for each individual action.