In Massachusetts, prosecutors must bring most criminal charges within six years of the alleged crime, but the deadline depends entirely on the offense — some serious crimes carry longer windows, and murder and certain sex offenses have no deadline at all. This deadline is called the statute of limitations. It sets how long the government has to formally charge you after a crime is committed.
If prosecutors miss it, they generally lose the power to bring the case at all. Knowing how long you can be charged after a crime in Massachusetts tells you whether an old allegation is still a live threat or whether the window has already closed.
How Long Can You Be Charged After a Crime in Massachusetts?
For most offenses, the answer is six years. This is the default rule, and it covers the large majority of felonies and misdemeanors that don’t fall into a special category. A handful of specific offenses carry their own, shorter deadlines set by other statutes, so six years is the starting point rather than a universal rule.
What the clock measures matters most. The statute of limitations runs from the date the crime was committed to the date charges are formally brought — the day a complaint is filed or a grand jury returns an indictment. It does not run to the date of trial. As long as the government files charges within the deadline, the statute of limitations is satisfied, even if the case itself takes years to resolve after that.
Massachusetts Criminal Statute of Limitations at a Glance
Type of crime | Time limit to bring charges |
No time limit | |
Certain serious sex offenses (often involving child victims) | No time limit — but after 27 years, charges require independent corroborating evidence |
Rape; assault with intent to commit rape | 15 years |
Armed and unarmed robbery; certain aggravated and domestic assault and battery offenses | 10 years |
Most other felonies and misdemeanors | 6 years |
Which Crimes Have No Statute of Limitations?
Murder can be charged at any time. There is no deadline — a homicide from decades ago can still be prosecuted today if the evidence supports it.
A number of serious sex offenses, particularly those involving child victims, also have no statute of limitations and can be charged at any time. There is one important wrinkle. If charges for these offenses are brought more than 27 years after the crime, the case must be supported by independent evidence that corroborates the accuser’s allegation, and that corroboration cannot consist only of the opinion of a mental health professional. People often describe this as a “27-year deadline.” It isn’t. There is no deadline — but after 27 years, prosecutors face a higher evidentiary bar.
Which Crimes Have Longer Deadlines?
Between the six-year default and the no-deadline offenses sit two middle categories.
Rape and assault with intent to commit rape must be charged within 15 years.
A group of serious violent offenses must be charged within 10 years. This category includes armed robbery, unarmed robbery, and certain aggravated and domestic assault and battery offenses, among others. So while a simple assault and battery falls under the six-year default, a more serious version of the same conduct can carry a longer window.
What Can Pause or Delay The Clock?
Two rules can extend the time prosecutors have to act.
First, the clock stops while a defendant is gone. Any period during which the accused is not usually and publicly living in Massachusetts is excluded from the calculation. In plain terms, you cannot run out the clock by leaving the state. If someone commits a crime and then moves away for several years, that time away does not count toward the deadline.
Second, for many offenses against children, the clock does not even start at the time of the crime. When the victim of certain offenses is under 16 when the crime occurs, the limitations period does not begin until the victim turns 16 or the crime is reported to law enforcement, whichever comes first. This rule reflects a hard reality — child victims often cannot come forward until much later.
How Is This Different From The Right To a Speedy Trial?
People often confuse the statute of limitations with the right to a speedy trial, but they protect different things at different stages.
The statute of limitations is a deadline to start a case. It governs how long prosecutors can wait before bringing charges in the first place. If they wait too long, the case can be dismissed because it was charged too late.
The right to a speedy trial applies after charges are already filed. It protects you from sitting under an open case indefinitely. In Massachusetts, a defendant generally has the right to be brought to trial within 12 months of arraignment, subject to certain periods of delay that don’t count against that clock, along with a separate constitutional right to a speedy trial. A violation can lead to dismissal — but on the ground that the case moved too slowly, not that it started too late.
The simplest way to keep them straight: the statute of limitations asks whether the government waited too long to charge you. The speedy-trial right asks whether the government took too long to try you once it did.
Facing an Old or Unexpected charge in Massachusetts?
Whether a charge is still on the table often turns on the details—the exact offense, when it allegedly happened, where you’ve lived since, and how the deadline is calculated in your situation. If you’re facing a criminal charge in Eastern Massachusetts, or you’re worried an old allegation could resurface, an experienced Boston criminal defense attorney can help you understand how the statute of limitations may apply to your case and what options you may have. The Law Office of Matthew W. Peterson offers free consultations for criminal matters. Call or text 617-295-7500, or send us a message below.
