Track

Status

Governing provision

No limitation for offenses against minors — § 54-193(a)(1): there shall be no limitation of time within which a person may be prosecuted for “(A) a capital felony under the provisions of section 53a-54b in effect prior to April 25, 2012, a class A felony or a violation of section 53a-54d or 53a-169, or (B) any other offense involving sexual abuse, sexual exploitation or sexual assault if the victim of the offense was a minor at the time of the offense, including, but not limited to, a violation of subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of section 53-21.” The same applies to rendering criminal assistance to a person who committed such an offense, § 54-193(a)(2). 

Where the victim was NOT a minor — § 54-193(b)(1): twenty years for a class B felony violation of § 53a-70, 53a-70a or 53a-70b, a class C felony violation of § 53a-71 or 53a-72b, or a class D felony violation of § 53a-72a. § 54-193(b)(2): where the victim was eighteen, nineteen or twenty at the time of the offense, not later than thirty years after that victim attains the age of twenty-one. § 54-193(b)(3): ten years for a class A misdemeanor violation of § 53a-73a where the victim was twenty-one or older. 

Everything else — § 54-193(c): five years for any other offense punishable by imprisonment in excess of one year. § 54-193(d): one year for any other offense. § 54-193(e): where the accused has fled from and resided out of the state, the period is measured by time resident in Connecticut. 

DNA route — § 54-193b: notwithstanding § 54-193, there is no limitation for a violation of § 53a-70b of the 1958 revision (revised to 1 January 2019), or § 53a-70, 53a-70a, 53a-71, 53a-72a or 53a-72b, provided (1) the victim notified a police officer or state’s attorney of the commission of the offense not later than five years after it was committed, and (2) the identity of the person alleged to have committed it has been established through a DNA profile comparison using evidence collected at the time of the offense. 

Why this is recorded as “no deadline” rather than “partly removed”: for a tracker about child sexual abuse, the operative provision is § 54-193(a)(1)(B), which removes the limitation for ANY offense involving sexual abuse, sexual exploitation or sexual assault where the victim was a minor. The twenty-year, thirty-year, ten-year, five-year and one-year periods in subsections (b) to (d) all apply where the victim was an adult. There is no category of child sexual abuse offense left carrying a deadline.

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 54-193 — Justia (2024 Connecticut General Statutes) 

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 54-193b — Justia (2025 Connecticut General Statutes) 

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 54-193a (repealed) — Justia (2025 Connecticut General Statutes)

Thirty years from age twenty-one § 52-577d: “Notwithstanding the provisions of section 52-577, no action to recover damages for personal injury to a person under twenty-one years of age, including emotional distress, caused by sexual abuse, sexual exploitation or sexual assault may be brought by such person later than thirty years from the date such person attains the age of twenty-one.” 

Applicability of the 2019 change the 2019 amendment replaced “under eighteen years of age” with “under twenty-one years of age” and “age of majority” with “age of twenty-one”, effective 1 October 2019 and applicable to any cause of action arising from an incident committed on or after 1 October 2019. 

No deadline at all where there is a conviction  § 52-577e: “Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 52-577 and 52-577d, an action to recover damages for personal injury caused by sexual assault may be brought at any time after the date of the act complained of if the party legally at fault for such injury has been convicted of a violation of section 53a-70 or 53a-70a.” That provision is effective 23 May 2002 and applies to any cause of action arising from an incident committed prior to, on or after that date. 

Who can be sued 323 Conn. 303 (2016), identified in the review notes as Doe v. Boy Scouts of America Corp.: § 52-577d applies to actions against the perpetrators of sexual abuse of minors as well as against parties whose negligent acts or omissions legally caused the personal injuries suffered by the victims. 

Repressed memory is not required — 178 Conn. App. 547: whether the plaintiff did or did not repress memories of the abuse is irrelevant; the section does not mention or require repressed memories and does not bar plaintiffs who have not repressed them from relying on it. 

The ordinary deadline therefore falls on the plaintiff’s fifty-first birthday — thirty years measured from age twenty-one, which follows directly from the words of § 52-577d. But § 52-577e removes the deadline entirely where the person legally at fault has been convicted under § 53a-70 or § 53a-70a, and that route reaches incidents committed before as well as after 2002.

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-577d — Justia (2025 Connecticut General Statutes) 

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-577e — Justia (2025 Connecticut General Statutes)

What the courts have held — 317 Conn. 357: retroactive application of § 52-577d to revive a plaintiff’s otherwise time-barred claims does not violate the defendant’s substantive due process rights under the Connecticut Constitution, because the defendant did not have a vested right to a defense under the lapsed statute of limitations. 

And earlier — 224 Conn. 483: the section as amended by expanding the period of liability did not create a substantive change in the law that would preclude its retroactive application. 

This is the mirror image of Arkansas and Colorado. Those states treat an expired limitation defense as a vested right that the legislature cannot disturb; Connecticut has held the opposite. Connecticut’s revival status is “none” because no window was ever opened — not because reaching back is impossible here. That distinction is worth carrying, because it is the reason Connecticut has never needed a window.

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-577d — Justia (2025 Connecticut General Statutes)

no Connecticut row.