Massachusetts to Let DNA Evidence Extend Rape Prosecutions

Massachusetts extend – Massachusetts lawmakers are poised to change a long-standing 15-year limit on most adult-rape prosecutions, allowing charges indefinitely when DNA matches a suspect after the deadline. Gov. Maura Healey says the change will take effect once she signs the $63.4

In Massachusetts, the clock on many rape prosecutions has been merciless for years. Under current law, nearly all rape cases involving adult victims can’t be charged after 15 years—even when DNA technology later points to a suspect who could be convicted.

That deadline is about to bend.

Gov. Maura Healey announced she will sign the state’s $63.4 billion budget on Wednesday. She has until July 11 to approve it, and the changes tied to the budget would take effect as soon as the bill is signed.

Healey said her administration is pledging to sign legislation that extends the prosecution window for rape cases when DNA is matched to a suspect after the 15-year statute has expired. The practical result. prosecutors and advocates say. is straightforward: if the match comes after the deadline. charges could still be filed indefinitely.

Under the law as it stands now, state rules bar nearly all rape prosecutions with adult victims after 15 years. That makes it difficult—or impossible—to bring charges even when new evidence later appears. The bill would carve out a DNA exception to that rule.

Healey pushed for the change during the annual budget process in January. treating the revision to the rape prosecution deadline as part of her budget proposal. The effort gained momentum after WBUR and ProPublica found that as many as 47 other states allow more time to charge rapes or similar sexual assaults than Massachusetts.

Many of those states, the reporting showed, expanded their deadlines in recent decades as DNA technology helped solve older cases and as evidence accumulated that police across the nation had failed to fully investigate rape cases.

The bill that survived Massachusetts’ monthslong budget process would still require prosecutors to act within the existing 15-year deadline if the DNA match is made within that window. The new law would primarily open the door to prosecution in cases where the statute of limitations has not yet passed.

Healey framed the change as aligning the law with what modern forensic evidence can do. In a statement. she said. “Today. DNA evidence can provide new answers years later. and our laws should reflect that reality.” She added that the change “gives survivors another path to justice while helping law enforcement hold violent offenders accountable.”.

For survivors, the new policy comes after years of frustration—and, in some cases, years of silence from courts that had no choice but to dismiss cases even after DNA pointed the way.

Louise is one of the people whose story has been used to press for the DNA exception. WBUR doesn’t identify victims of sexual assault without their permission, and it agreed to identify Louise only by her middle name.

In October 2005, Louise was raped and repeatedly stabbed by a man who gave her a ride in Boston, according to police and court records. Seventeen years later, a DNA match identified an area man as a suspect. DNA evidence also linked that suspect to another rape.

Suffolk County prosecutors charged the man in both cases in 2022, but had to drop the cases because the statute of limitations had expired. The suspect maintained his innocence. Under the law that would be changed, prosecutors could not carry the case through once the deadline passed.

Louise testified before state legislators in support of the DNA exception after her interview with WBUR. She said she’s relieved it will become law.

“It really was devastating,” Louise said. “I never fathomed that time lapsing would be an issue.”

Louise said, “It’s nice to have the government move in the right direction, which builds a sense of trust, a sense of safety — and justice.”

Supporters say the new rule is about preventing cases from vanishing simply because evidence took too long to surface. State Rep. Adam Scanlon, a Democrat, has worked with rape survivors on the DNA exception for the last five years, he said. Scanlon said they pushed for the change because they were frustrated they could no longer pursue justice after the deadline. even when new evidence emerged.

“It gives them hope in the future to ensure that no one has to suffer the same indignities,” Scanlon said, adding, “This was a long process driven by survivors.”

There is a reason this debate has dragged on. Massachusetts legislators have tried unsuccessfully to change the rape statute of limitations every session since 2011, WBUR found.

Defense attorneys opposed those bills, arguing that extending the deadline risked violating the rights of the accused. The new law preserves that structure by maintaining the 15-year window for cases where a DNA match is made within the deadline—while shifting what happens when the match arrives later.

For now, the change still hinges on the final signature. Healey has until July 11 to approve the budget. and the DNA exception would go into effect as soon as it’s signed. If she signs. Massachusetts will no longer be a state where DNA can point to a suspect years after the fact. but the law refuses to let a case move forward.

Massachusetts Maura Healey statute of limitations rape prosecutions DNA evidence Adam Scanlon WBUR ProPublica