What you need to know about Ohio Politics and Policy
The Ohio House introduced House Bill 6 among its priority legislation last Wednesday. This bill extends the statute of limitations on the prosecution of rape and sexual battery cases. Yesterday, the same proposal was in the Senate in the form of Senate Bill 13.
Since Attorney General Mike DeWine launched the Sexual Assault Kit Testing Initiative in 2011, law enforcement agencies have been forwarding old DNA samples for testing. However, due to the 20 year statute of limitations, many sexual offenders are escaping prosecution. If passed, HB 6 or SB 13 would extend the statute of limitations to allow the prosecution of a sexual offender once the result of the DNA analysis is confirmed, rather than when the crime occurred.Tagged in these Policy Areas: