How the fuck is there a statute of limitations for rape in New York?

[The Grand Nudger]

Unfortunately, DNA evidence, in and of itself, is no such evidence.  The crime of rape is not an issue of intercourse, but consent.  No advance in any field has made it easier to demonstrate the presence or lack of consent (and human beings haven't become any more or less fallible either). I know that it sounds like a good idea, removing SOLs, -particularly when we only concern ourselvs with "the guilty"......but what it does is put anyone and everyone under the shadow of prosecution indefinitely. We imagine that this will only be used when evidence is overwhelming, but this is just our imagination. Rape cases -already- go to trial without dna evidence, or with inconclusive dna evidence. They do secure convictions in their absence..granted, the rate of conviction is low regardless of the evidence. The mere -threat- of indefinite prosecution is enough to make a person settle out, regardless of guilt or innocence...or the weight or value of evidence.

Now, we already have crimes for which there are no sols. Look at the rate of conviction...look at the quality of evidence that secures a conviction (or plea deal) in the -worst- of cases, not the best....and then look at how many have been overturned. Do we want to err on the side of innocence or guilt? Particularly when the alternative is promoting swift reporting and insisting that cases be made, when they have the best chance of securing a conviction, when the evidence exists and testimony is fresh in mind and memory? Along with that, bearing in mind that sols do not offer blanket protection, and are not what people think they are.

As an example, I haven;t lived in florida for nearly a decade. Suppose I am suspected of a crime (suspected, not convicted, not charged).....and the sol on that crime is two years? If the date of that purported crime is the date I left florida..the clock on the sol -hasn't even started to tick-. If I got picked up for a traffic violation on I-75 when i go down for vaction..it would be counted as day 1 of the sol. They;d have the full two years to even begin proceedings, assuming I didn't leave the state between that day and whenever they decided to charge me. If I left the state again, after a week, and after being released, they will have only consumed 1 week of the sol. I'm already on the hook, effectively, indefinitely...so long as I'm an out-of-stater. That;s not even an exception to the sol. That's how they work -before- any exception. Suppose, knowing this, I wanted to clear my name to get out from under them? Now, the sol doesn't even apply. I've waived it. Now I'm in process....and they'll offer a deal...with a less-than-insignificant amount of tooth behind it.


OFC, I'm an upstanding citizen, a vet, the right shade of lipstick, I clean up real well, and importantly I can afford a good lawyer. We're not all as fortunate. The removal of sols,threadbare as protection in the first place, puts too much power in the hands of a system already -known- to be abusive. It's doing the wrong thing for the right reasons.