Track

Status

Governing provision

No limitation — prosecution may be commenced at any time, § 5-1-109(a)(1), for (among other offenses): rape, § 5-14-103, if the victim was a minor at the time; sexual indecency with a child, § 5-14-110, if the offense is a felony; sexual extortion, § 5-14-113, if the victim was a minor; capital rape, § 5-14-114; sexual assault in the first degree, § 5-14-124; sexual assault in the second degree, § 5-14-125, if the victim was a minor; trafficking of persons, § 5-18-103; patronizing a victim of human trafficking, § 5-18-104; grooming a minor for future sex trafficking, § 5-18-106; traveling for the purpose of an unlawful sex act with a minor, § 5-18-107; incest, § 5-26-202, if the victim was a minor; engaging children in sexually explicit conduct for use in visual or print medium, § 5-27-303; transportation of minors for prohibited sexual conduct, § 5-27-305; employing or consenting to the use of a child in a sexual performance, § 5-27-402; producing, directing or promoting a sexual performance by a child, § 5-27-403; and computer exploitation of a child in the first degree, § 5-27-605. 

Until the victim reaches 28 — § 5-1-109(a)(2): sexual assault in the third degree, § 5-14-126; sexual assault in the fourth degree, § 5-14-127; endangering the welfare of a minor in the first degree, § 5-27-205; permitting abuse of a minor, § 5-27-221; and electronic facilitation of child sexual abuse, § 5-27-603 — but only where the offense was committed against a minor, has not previously been reported to a law enforcement agency or prosecuting attorney, and the victim has not reached 28. 

Otherwise — § 5-1-109(b): Class Y or Class A felony, six years; Class B, C, D or unclassified felony, three years; misdemeanor or violation, one year. For rape under § 5-14-103 the period is eliminated where biological evidence of the alleged perpetrator capable of producing a DNA profile is identified, § 5-1-109(b)(1)(B). 

Further extensions — § 5-1-109(h): for certain offenses against a minor (including battery in the first and second degree, aggravated assault, terroristic threatening in the first degree, kidnapping, false imprisonment in the first degree and permanent detention or restraint), a prosecution may still be commenced where the offense has not previously been reported and the subsection (b) period has not expired since the victim turned 18. § 5-1-109(i): where DNA testing implicates a person identified through the State DNA Data Base or the National DNA Index System, no limitation bars prosecution. 

Why “partly removed”: the elimination in § 5-1-109(a)(1) is a list of named offenses, several of which apply only where the victim was a minor. The offenses in § 5-1-109(a)(2) are capped at the victim’s twenty-eighth birthday, and anything outside both lists falls to the ordinary six-, three- or one-year periods in § 5-1-109(b). 

Ark. Code Ann. § 5-1-109 — Justia (2024 Arkansas Code — see the note on edition) 

No limitation for a vulnerable victim — § 16-118-118(b)(1): “Notwithstanding any other statute of limitation or any other law that may be construed to reduce the statutory period set forth in this section, a vulnerable victim may bring a civil action against any party who committed sexual abuse against the vulnerable victim or whose tortious conduct caused the vulnerable victim to be a victim of sexual abuse.” 

“Vulnerable victim” — § 16-118-118(a)(6): a person who was a person with a disability, a minor, or both, at the time he or she was a victim of sexual abuse. “Sexual abuse” is defined at § 16-118-118(a)(3) by reference to rape, capital rape, sexual assault in the first and second degree, engaging children in sexually explicit conduct, transportation of minors for prohibited sexual conduct, use of children in sexual performances, and unlawful sexual contact or sexually explicit conduct with a vulnerable victim. 

Exclusion — § 16-118-118(c): the section does not apply to a claim that was litigated to finality on the merits in any court of competent jurisdiction before 28 July 2021. 

Background rules that still matter for claims outside the Act — Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-116(a): a person under 21 or insane when the cause of action accrues may bring the action within three years after attaining full age or after the disability is removed. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-130(a): a civil action based on sexual abuse suffered as a minor but not discovered until after majority “shall be brought within three (3) years from the time of discovery of the sexual abuse by the injured party.” 

No repressed-memory tolling under the disability statute — Barre v. Hoffman, 2009 Ark. 373, 326 S.W.3d 415: repressed-memory syndrome does not satisfy the requirement of insanity under § 16-56-116, and the plaintiff there could not show the condition existed before he reached the age of majority. 

Ark. Code Ann. § 16-118-118 — Justia (2024 Arkansas Code) 

Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-130 (delayed discovery) — Justia (2024 Arkansas Code) 

General revival — § 16-118-118(b)(2): “a civil action similar to a civil action described in subdivision (b)(1) of this section, including a cause of action arising before, on, or after July 28, 2021, that was barred or dismissed due to a statute of limitation is revived, and the civil action may be commenced not earlier than six (6) months after and not later than thirty (30) months after August 1, 2023.” 

Held invalid by the Court of Appeals — H.C. v. Nesmith, 2025 Ark. App. 59, 705 S.W.3d 880 (5 February 2025): the revival window violated the defendant’s vested right to rely on the expired statute of limitations, so it did not revive claims already barred. The court held it was “bound by over a century of supreme court precedent prohibiting legislative attempts to revive expired statutes of limitation.” 

Review granted — the Arkansas Supreme Court granted review in Nesmith on 22 May 2025. A grant of review means the Court of Appeals decision is not the last word. Whether the Supreme Court has since issued a decision could not be confirmed from any free source, and is not stated here. 

Federal court agrees, predicting Arkansas law — Does 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 & 8 v. Presley, 772 F. Supp. 3d 1031 (E.D. Ark., 17 March 2025): the court predicted the Arkansas Supreme Court would hold § 16-118-118(b)(2) violates the Arkansas Constitution, and held the statute “does not revive any claims.” It nonetheless granted leave to plead tolling under the delayed-discovery statute, § 16-56-130. 

Separate bankruptcy revival — 2025 Ark. Act 49 (S.B. 13), “an act to amend the law concerning civil actions brought by certain victims of sexual abuse”: a claim for injury caused by child sexual abuse may be commenced or maintained at any time where the stated conditions are met, including that the claim is against an entity seeking or provided protection under a plan of reorganization in the bankruptcy proceeding concerned. The act provides that “This section expires on December 31, 2026.” 

Two distinct things are live at once. The general window in § 16-118-118(b)(2) has run out by its own dates, and what remains before the Supreme Court is whether claims filed inside it survive. The Act 49 window is separate, narrower and still open until 31 December 2026. 

Ark. Code Ann. § 16-118-118 — Justia (2024 Arkansas Code) 

2025 Ark. Act 49 (S.B. 13) — Arkansas General Assembly, official act text