DOJ-OGR-00000131.tif
Extracted Text (OCR)
68a
that it apply to prosecutions for offenses committed
before the date of enactment. Instead of simply
providing a new limitations period for future conduct,
Congress stated that no statute of limitations that
would otherwise preclude prosecution of these offenses
will apply. That is, it prevents the application of any
statute of limitations that would otherwise apply to
past conduct.
Courts have reached the same conclusion for other
statutes employing similar language. The Eighth
Circuit has held that the 1994 amendments to § 3283,
which allowed prosecution of sex crimes against
children until the victim reached age twenty-five,
applied to past conduct. See United States v. Jeffries,
405 F.3d 682, 684-85 (8th Cir. 2005). The Second
Circuit has observed that the Higher Education
Technical Amendments of 1991, Pub. L. No. 102-26,
105 Stat. 123, illustrates language that requires a
statute’s application to past conduct. See Enter. Mortg.
Acceptance Co., LLC, Sec. Litig., 391 F.3d at 407. That
statute eliminated the statute of limitations for claims
on defaulted student loans by stating that “no
limitation shall terminate the period within which suit
may be filed.” Jd. The PROTECT Act’s language is
quite similar.
The history of § 3283 confirms Congress’s intent to
apply the extended limitations period as broadly as the
Constitution allows. With each successive amendment
to the statute, Congress further extended the limitations
period, recognizing that sex crimes against children
“may be difficult to detect quickly” because children
often delay or decline to report sexual abuse.
Weingarten, 865 F.3d at 54. Congress enacted the
limitations provision of the PROTECT Act because it
found the prior statute of limitations was “inadequate
DOJ-OGR-00000131