2021 Legislative Update - Time Limitations on Prosecution

The Louisiana Legislature enacted a great number of new statutes and changes to the law during the 2021 Regular Session. For the next few weeks, we’ll be writing about some of the changes that might directly impact our clients in the future.

Effective August 1, 2021, the Louisiana Legislature has extended the time limitations on institution of prosecution in some cases. (In Louisiana, we call these prescriptive periods. In most other states, they are called statutes of limitations. They serve the same purpose everywhere: making it impossible for the offender to be prosecuted after a certain amount of time has passed.)

First, the Louisiana Legislature amended Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 573.1 to extend the time limitations in which to prosecute crimes against people with infirmities. The new law states that these time limitations do not begin to run until “the crime is discovered by a competent victim, or in the case of an incompetent victim, by a law enforcement officer.”

Secondly, the Legislature amended Code of Criminal Procedure Article 573 to state that the time limitations do not begin to run “until the relationship or status involved has ceased to exist” when the offense is a felony crime of violence (as defined in La. R.S. 14:2(B)) or the crime of cruelty to juveniles (as defined in R.S. 14:93) when the victim is under the age of 18, unless a longer period of limitation is established in another provision of law. It is not entirely clear exactly how this language will be interpreted because not all crimes of violence under La. R.S. 14:2 require a specific relationship between the victim and the offender. It is possible that the legislature intended this statute to suspend the running of all prescriptive periods until the victim reaches the age of 18 years old, but it is somewhat unclear from the specific phrasing of this language.

If you or someone you know has been charged with a criminal offense and has questions about the prescriptive periods, give us a call at (318) 459-9111 to set up a consult.