How a Sex-Crime Investigation Works in Michigan

A Michigan sex-crime investigation runs from a report to a prosecutor's decision. Police gather evidence, and no warrant or summons for anything other than a minor offense may issue unless the prosecuting attorney has signed a written authorization.^[1] Between those two points, the law fixes some steps precisely (hospital duties, evidence-kit deadlines, child-abuse protocols) and leaves others to the agencies involved.

If you are in immediate danger, call 911. The national hotline of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network is 800-656-HOPE (800-656-4673).^[8] Michigan's VOICES4 hotline connects callers with an advocate by phone or text at 1-855-864-2374, with online chat also offered.^[9] To report suspected abuse or neglect of a child, the state's line is 855-444-3911, open any time, day or night.^[10]

This page describes the stages in order and says who does what. It is a description of the legal process for everyone it touches: people who report, parents, witnesses, and people who learn they are being investigated.

Stage 1: How a report reaches police

Reports arrive by several routes, and the route affects which rules apply first.

• A direct report to police. Within 24 hours after the initial contact between a sexual assault victim and the investigating law enforcement agency, the agency must give the victim written information, including contact information for a local sexual assault services program if one is available and notice of the right to request case information.^[11]
• A hospital visit. If a person tells hospital staff that he or she was the victim of criminal sexual conduct within the preceding 120 hours, staff must immediately say that a sexual assault medical forensic examination is available.^[4] A victim cannot be required to participate in the criminal justice system or cooperate with law enforcement as a condition of the exam.^[5]
• A mandated report about a child. Professionals listed in the Child Protection Law who have reasonable cause to suspect child abuse must make an immediate report to centralized intake.^[12] When the department becomes aware that a child is the victim of suspected sexual abuse or sexual exploitation, it must seek the assistance of and cooperate with law enforcement within 24 hours.^[2]
• A school or campus. Federal law requires colleges to tell victims in writing of their options to notify law enforcement, to be assisted in doing so, or to decline to notify.^[13]

The choices open to an adult who has been assaulted are laid out in Your options for reporting.

Stage 2: What investigators collect

No statute lists the steps of a criminal investigation. The statutes and rules instead govern particular kinds of evidence. The table shows the kinds that have their own legal rules and where this guide covers each.

Evidence	The governing rule in brief	Guide
Medical forensic exam and evidence kit	Performed only if the individual consents; the provider may not bill the victim.[4][14]	The forensic exam
Kit testing	Police have 14 days to collect a released kit and 14 more to submit it to a laboratory.[15][16]	Kit testing deadlines
A child's account	The department and law enforcement must investigate in compliance with the county protocols, which are modeled on the state forensic interviewing protocol.[3][17]	Forensic interviews of children
Phones, computers and accounts	A search warrant issues on a sworn affidavit when the judge or magistrate is satisfied there is probable cause.[18]	Phone and computer searches
Recorded conversations	The eavesdropping statute does not prohibit eavesdropping or surveillance, not otherwise prohibited by law, by a peace officer or the officer's agent performing the officer's duties.[19]	Recorded calls and messages
The accused person's own statement	A party's own statement, offered against that party, is not hearsay under the Michigan Rules of Evidence.[20]	When a detective calls
DNA	A person arrested for a felony must provide a sample for DNA identification profiling.[21]	DNA evidence

Physical evidence is not a legal precondition to a charge. The testimony of a victim need not be corroborated in prosecutions for the criminal sexual conduct offenses.^[22] A victim also need not have resisted.^[23] How juries weigh a case that rests on one person's account is covered in cases without other witnesses.

Stage 3: When the case involves a child

A report about a child can set two investigations in motion. Within 24 hours after receiving a report, the department must either refer it to the prosecuting attorney and local law enforcement or commence an investigation.^[24] Police involvement does not relieve or prevent the department from proceeding where there is reasonable cause to suspect the abuse was committed by a person responsible for the child's health or welfare.^[25]

If the case involves sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of a child, the department must refer it to the county prosecuting attorney, who must review whether the investigation complied with the county protocol.^[26] The parallel track is explained in CPS investigations of sexual abuse, and guidance for families is in When a child discloses abuse.

Stage 4: Contact with the person under investigation

Police may ask the person named in a report to talk. Miranda warnings are tied to custodial interrogation, which the U.S. Supreme Court defined as questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of freedom of action in any significant way.^[27] The Michigan Constitution separately provides that no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.^[28]

When a person in custodial detention is interrogated about a major felony, the law enforcement official must make a time-stamped audiovisual recording of the entire interrogation.^[29] "Major felony" covers felonies punishable by life or by a statutory maximum of 20 years or more, and third-degree criminal sexual conduct by name.^[30] These rules are set out in When a detective calls.

A defendant alleged to have committed a criminal sexual conduct offense must be given a polygraph examination if he or she requests one, and a law enforcement officer may not request or order a victim to take one.^[31][32] The statute speaks of a "defendant"; whether it gives a person who has not been charged an enforceable right to a test is not answered by the sources reviewed for this guide.^[31] See Polygraphs in CSC cases.

Stage 5: The file goes to the prosecutor

The investigation ends, for charging purposes, when the prosecuting attorney decides whether to authorize a charge.^[1] A magistrate then issues a warrant or summons on a proper sworn complaint and a finding of reasonable cause to believe the accused committed the offense.^[33] The standards and the complainant's role are covered in Who decides whether to charge.

If a charge is authorized, the case moves to district court. At a felony arraignment the magistrate sets a probable cause conference 7 to 14 days out and a preliminary examination 5 to 7 days after that conference.^[34] The steps that follow are in the timeline of a felony CSC case.

How long can an investigation stay open?

Michigan statutes set deadlines for pieces of an investigation, not for the whole. The pieces with statutory clocks are these:

• A health care facility that has written consent to release a kit must notify law enforcement within 24 hours.^[35]
• Submitted kits are to be analyzed within 90 days after the laboratory receives all the necessary evidence, but only "provided that sufficient staffing and resources are available to do so."^[36]
• The department must seek law enforcement's assistance within 24 hours of learning that a child is a suspected victim of sexual abuse.^[2]

The outer boundary is the statute of limitations. A first-degree charge may be filed at any time.^[6] Fourth-degree charges and assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct may be filed within 10 years after the offense or by the alleged victim's 21st birthday, whichever is later.^[37] The periods, and how courts treat long gaps, are covered in Delayed reports and old allegations and Statute of limitations for sex crimes.

What each person can find out while it is pending

A person who reported. On request, the investigating agency must provide, if available and if disclosure does not impede or compromise an ongoing investigation, the investigating officer's contact information, the current status of the case, whether it has been submitted to the prosecutor for review, and, if it was closed, the documented reason.^[7] The agency may require the request in writing, and it is not required to send updates without a new request.^[38]

A person under investigation. The sources reviewed contain no parallel statute giving a suspect a right to status updates before a charge. After a charge, the prosecutor must on request provide police reports, interrogation records and the defendant's statements, among other items.^[39][40] A search warrant affidavit can be withheld by court order, on a showing of necessity, until the person is charged.^[41]

What people get wrong

One belief is that police "press charges." They investigate; the written authorization that allows a warrant or summons is the prosecuting attorney's.^[1] A second is that an investigation with no arrest after a few weeks is over. Nothing in the statutes reviewed closes an investigation by the passage of time short of the limitations period.^[6][37] A third is that a kit "must be tested in 90 days"; the statutory 90 days is conditioned on staffing and resources.^[36]

People who have just learned of an allegation can find a neutral orientation in Accused of a sex offense: first steps, and people who were harmed in Rights of sexual assault survivors.