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Kevin Spacey, Anthony Anderson and Steven Seagal Have All Avoided Criminal Charges

It’s apparently a little-known fact in the criminal justice system, but there’s a time limit on filing criminal charges against someone who commits a crime. It’s called statute of limitations, and it serves an important function in the legal system. It helps to insure a fair trial, as someone probably doesn’t remember the specifics of the time they stole a candy bar 30 years ago. And this is just my personal opinion, but if someone commits a crime and the statute of limitations expires and they haven’t committed any more recent crimes, it doesn’t serve society to punish them for those crimes. Our system is based on justice and improving our society, not on punishment.

Variety reports that because of the statute of limitations on rape in California, the DA cannot bring charges against Kevin Spacey and Steven Seagal for rapes they’re accused of committing in the early 1990s. California has since eliminated the statute of limitations on rape, which was six years, but it can’t be lifted retroactively. There should probably be a statute of limitations on every crime, including rape (though murder generally doesn’t have one in the United States) but six years is a bit short. Ten years seems fair to me, and if someone should be in jail because they pose a risk to society then they’ll have committed a crime in the last ten years.

At the same time, the DA also declined to bring charges against Anthony Anderson who was accussed of sexual assault this past spring. While that case hasn’t reached the statute of limitations, the accuser declined to speak to the police, so the DA can’t build a case against Anderson.

“The reporting party has declined to be interviewed by the investigating officer,” a prosecutor wrote. “The interview is a necessary piece of the investigation. Prosecution is declined due to lack of sufficient evidence to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the allegations.”

Spacey isn’t out of the woods yet, though, as he’s being investigated by the London Metropolitan Police for three incidents of sexual assault.

See what I mean about not really needing to eliminate the statute of limitations? If Spacey goes to jail, it’ll be because he just kept doing this s**t all over the world. We didn’t need to lift the statute of limitations because he just keeps doing it.

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