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

[LadyForCamus]

I know, but I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt regarding definitions and his argument. If you aren't found guilty of committing a crime, or for some reason cannot be convicted for a crime, was it still a crime?

One definition of "murder" is "the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another". So if the killing wasn't unlawful (because there was some statue of limitations preventing a conviction), is it still murder, or is it just a "killing".

The argument is an interesting one, though it's entirely based in semantics.

It's not just semantics. What separates a word like murder from killing is the prohibition and prosecution. Again If OJ Killed His wife and her BF and was release by the legal system then no matter what he by all aspects of the law is not a murderer.

As it is the prosecution of a killer that makes one a murderer. If however in the court of pop culture we decide to call him a murder despite his legal status, that is the matter of semantics.

It is to the legal definition that we are bound first, then if we wish to take liberties with out vocab then that is on us.

My argument is that "rape" has (at least) two meanings, one that relates to the legal situation, and one that is colloquial. If you have non-consensual sex with someone, you have raped them in a sense that most people understand (colloquially), even if you aren't viewed as having raped the person under the law because the rape wasn't reported in time (legally).

same is true here Forced sex and rape are not the same. Rape is a criminal act while forced sex is not. the SOL being the primary determining factor.

And again here if people want to call others rapists even though they were found innocent or can not legally be prosecuted for whatever reason, then this too is a matter of semantics.

Bold mine:

There is no distinguishable difference between "forced sex" and "rape" with regard to the harm it causes those who are on the receiving end of such an act.