Statute of Limitations for Sex Crimes in Michigan

Michigan has no time limit for charging first-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC).^[1] For the other CSC offenses the deadline depends on which offense is charged and, since a change that took effect on April 2, 2025, on when the offense was committed.^[2][3][4]

If you are in danger, call 911. The National Sexual Assault Hotline is free, confidential and open 24/7: call 800-656-HOPE (4673) or text HOPE to 64673.^[7] Michigan's VOICES4 hotline takes calls and texts at 855-864-2374.^[8]

This page sets out the current criminal limitation periods, the DNA and out-of-state rules that extend them, and what the page cannot tell you about older offenses. Deadlines for civil lawsuits are different and are covered in civil lawsuits for sexual assault.

The limitation periods by offense and offense date

These are the periods in MCL 767.24 as of October 2026. The statute is written in terms of when an indictment "may be found and filed".^[1]

Offense	When the offense was committed	Limitation period
CSC first degree (MCL 750.520b)	Any date, subject to the rule on already-expired periods below	None: may be found and filed at any time[1]
CSC second degree (MCL 750.520c) or third degree (MCL 750.520d)	On or after April 2, 2025	15 years after the offense or the alleged victim's 42nd birthday, whichever is later[2]
CSC second or third degree, victim under 18	Before April 2, 2025 (the 2018 rules)	15 years after the offense or the alleged victim's 28th birthday, whichever is later[3]
CSC second or third degree, victim 18 or older	Before April 2, 2025 (the 2018 rules)	10 years after the offense or the alleged victim's 21st birthday, whichever is later[3]
CSC fourth degree (MCL 750.520e)	Current text; not changed by the 2025 amendment	10 years after the offense or the alleged victim's 21st birthday, whichever is later[4]
Assault with intent to commit CSC (MCL 750.520g)	Current text; not changed by the 2025 amendment	10 years after the offense or the alleged victim's 21st birthday, whichever is later[4]

The "2018 rules" are the periods written by 2018 PA 182, effective September 10, 2018.^[3] For an offense committed before that law, the deadline depends on earlier versions of the statute and on whether the period had already expired before each later extension took effect.^[9] This page does not state those earlier periods.

What changed on April 2, 2025?

2024 PA 268 rewrote the period for second- and third-degree CSC. For those two offenses, an indictment "may be found and filed within 15 years after the offense is committed or by the alleged victim's forty-second birthday, whichever is later."^[2] The new period does not depend on the victim's age at the time of the offense.^[2]

The Legislature also said when the change applies. Subsection (13) provides that the changes "apply to offenses committed on or after the effective date" and "do not apply retroactively to an offense committed before that date."^[2] The benchbook that Michigan judges use puts it this way: for offenses committed before April 2, 2025, the limitations periods apply as written in 2018 PA 182.^[3]

The 2024 act did not lengthen the period for fourth-degree CSC or for assault with intent to commit CSC, which remain at 10 years or the alleged victim's 21st birthday, whichever is later.^[4] Other recent changes are collected in recent changes to Michigan sex-offense law.

How does the "whichever is later" rule work?

Each period has two possible end dates, one counted from the offense and one fixed by the alleged victim's birthday, and the later of the two controls.^[2][4] For a second- or third-degree offense committed on or after April 2, 2025, simple arithmetic shows which branch that is: the 42nd birthday is the later date whenever the alleged victim was younger than 27 when the offense was committed, and the date 15 years after the offense is the later one otherwise.^[2]

Michigan counts age by the birthday rule.^[10]

What extends the deadline?

DNA from an unidentified individual

For second- and third-degree CSC: if evidence of the offense is obtained and contains DNA determined to be from an unidentified individual, an indictment against that individual may be found and filed at any time after the offense is committed.^[5] What follows identification depends on the offense date. For an offense committed on or after April 2, 2025, the indictment may then be found and filed within 15 years after identification or by the alleged victim's 42nd birthday, whichever is later.^[5] For an offense committed before that date, the DNA provision as written in 2018 used the 2018 figures: 15 years after identification or the alleged victim's 28th birthday where the victim was under 18, and 10 years after identification or the 21st birthday otherwise, in each case whichever is later.^[11]

For fourth-degree CSC and assault with intent to commit CSC, the rule is the same in structure, with 10 years after identification or the alleged victim's 21st birthday, whichever is later.^[6]

"Identified" has a statutory meaning: the individual's legal name is known and the individual has been determined to be the source of the DNA.^[12] Related subjects are in DNA evidence in sex-crime cases and sexual assault kit testing deadlines.

Time living outside Michigan

"Any period during which the party charged did not usually and publicly reside within this state is not part of the time within which the respective indictments may be found and filed."^[13]

Later extensions, but only for periods still running

Subsection (12) provides that the extension or tolling of a limitations period "applies to any of those violations for which the limitations period has not expired at the time the extension or tolling takes effect."^[9] In other words, the statute extends periods that are still open; it does not speak of reopening ones that have closed. Subsection (13) then makes the 2024 changes prospective only.^[2]

What about attempts and other sex offenses?

The 10-year subsection covers "a violation or attempted violation" of the sections it names, which include fourth-degree CSC (MCL 750.520e), assault with intent to commit CSC (MCL 750.520g) and the child sexually abusive material statute (MCL 750.145c).^[4] The subsection for second- and third-degree CSC refers to "a violation".^[2] What period governs an attempted second- or third-degree offense is not something this page can state from the sources it relies on.

Offenses that are not given their own period in MCL 767.24 fall under its default: "All other indictments may be found and filed within 6 years after the offense is committed."^[14] The pages on individual offenses, such as child sexually abusive material and sex trafficking, deal with their own time limits.

What the limitation period does and does not decide

The period is about whether a charge can still be filed. It says nothing about whether a report made years later is believed, and nothing about the strength of the evidence. The CSC statutes provide that the testimony of a victim need not be corroborated.^[15] How courts treat a gap between an event and a report is covered in delayed reporting of sexual assault.

The decision to bring a charge within the period belongs to the prosecuting attorney, whose written authorization is needed before a warrant issues for anything other than a minor offense.^[16] See who decides to charge a sex crime and options for reporting sexual assault.

For a person who is charged, how an expired period is raised in court is covered in raising the statute of limitations.

Criminal deadlines are not civil deadlines

A lawsuit for damages follows different statutes. The period of limitations is 10 years for an action to recover damages sustained because of criminal sexual conduct.^[17] A person who was a minor when victimized may sue at any time before the later of reaching age 28, or three years after discovering, or when the person should have discovered, both the injury and its causal relationship to the conduct.^[18] A civil claim does not require that a criminal prosecution was brought or that it ended in a conviction.^[17]

Workplace harassment claims have their own timetables; see deadlines to file a sexual harassment claim.

What people get wrong

"The limit for second- and third-degree CSC is 10 years or age 21." For offenses on or after April 2, 2025 it is 15 years or the alleged victim's 42nd birthday, whichever is later. The older figures still govern earlier offenses, and they were 15 years or age 28 where the victim was under 18.^[2][3]

"The 2025 law reopened old cases." The statute says the 2024 changes do not apply retroactively to an offense committed before the effective date.^[2]

"Every sex crime in Michigan has no time limit." Only first-degree CSC is in the at-any-time list among the CSC offenses; the others have limitation periods.^[1][2][4]

"All CSC deadlines got longer in 2025." Fourth-degree CSC and assault with intent to commit CSC stayed at 10 years or the 21st birthday.^[4]

"Moving away runs out the clock." Time during which the party charged did not usually and publicly reside in Michigan is not counted.^[13]