End limits on rape prosecutions

Akron Beacon Journal: Justice has been served by DNA testing. Many of those wrongly convicted have been freed, their innocence proved after years, even decades, in prison. Now Ohio must do a better job applying the technology to the other side of the legal equation, using the tests to identify and prosecute those who committed rape yet long have eluded arrest, the trail cold, or the evidence somehow insufficient.

State Sens. Shannon Jones, a Springboro Republican, and Jim Hughes, a Columbus Republican, have proposed legislation that would eliminate the current statute of limitations of 20 years on rape and sexual assault when DNA evidence is available to establish the attacker.

The legislation complements the work of Mike DeWine, the state attorney general, who has invited cities and other jurisdictions to submit their untested rape kits, long on shelves, to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation for DNA analysis.

Other states have moved ahead, 27 having extended or suspended statutes of limitations on rape or sexual assault charges if DNA testing can identify a suspect. They take various approaches. Some put no time limit on rape cases. Others require the filing of charges within one year, or three years, five or 10 of the DNA match. It’s better to follow the path of removing the statute of limitations altogether for a crime so heinous.