If you are in danger right now, call your local emergency number. Escrow is not an emergency service.
Is it too late to report in Boston?
Probably later than you think.
Boston does have a deadline, and it is quoted in full below rather than summarised. It is measured against the law, not against how long you have been quiet.
Checked against official sources on 31 August 2026.
the deadline in Boston, quoted in full
Massachusetts generally requires a prosecution for rape to begin within 15 years of the offence, under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 277, Section 63. If you were under 16 at the time, the 15 years start later. They run from when you turn 16 or report to the police, whichever happens first.
We quote this rather than shorten it. A shortened deadline is a wrong deadline, and this is the sentence a lawyer would want to read.
2 different clocks
The exam window runs in hours. The deadline runs in years.
the exam window in Boston
You can be examined and have evidence collected at an emergency room within 5 days, which is 120 hours, of an assault. A toxicology kit is available within 96 hours if drugs or alcohol may have been involved. The state covers the cost of the forensic exam, so you should not be billed unless you choose to use your own insurance.
This is the clock that runs out fast. You can be examined without deciding whether to go to the police.
the limitation period
This is the deadline for the case itself — how long the law gives before a prosecution can no longer be brought. It is usually many years for rape, and often longer or unlimited when the survivor was a child.
Missing the exam window does not mean the limitation period has passed. They are separate clocks.
where to report in Boston
Call 911, or call the Boston Police Department's Sexual Assault Unit directly at 617-343-4400, to report a sexual assault. You can also start at a hospital emergency room, where you can be examined and cared for. The Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) has medical advocates who can meet you there.
if the deadline has passed
A closed case is not the same as no record.
If the period above has run out where you are, a prosecution may no longer be possible. That is the plain truth and we will not dress it up. 3 things are still open to you.
a timestamped report
What you write here is dated and kept. Years later, a record that existed before anyone asked for it carries weight a memory does not.
a sealed report that can match
Seal it against an identifier — a profile link, a phone, a workplace. Nobody sees it until someone else names the same person. Their case may still be inside the deadline.
a pin on the map
Publish it and the next person searching Boston can see it. He stays an alias unless a court, the police or the press have already published his name.
Many countries also treat the clock differently when the survivor was a child, when the offence is ongoing, or when new evidence appears. A support organisation in this list can tell you whether that applies to you.
who can tell you today
People in Boston who do this every day.
These are independent of Escrow. They know how the deadline is read in practice where you are, and they can also just talk.
Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) Hotline
National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN)
sources
The deadline above came from one of these.
- Contact Us
Boston Police Department · checked 31 August 2026
- Immediate Steps
Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) · checked 31 August 2026
- Massachusetts Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit (MSAECK) Program
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Executive Office of Public Safety and Security · checked 31 August 2026
- Mass. General Laws c.277 Section 63, Limitation of criminal prosecutions
Commonwealth of Massachusetts · checked 31 August 2026
- Contact Us
Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) · checked 31 August 2026
other places
The deadline somewhere else.
If you were somewhere else in the United States, read the deadline for the United States. It covers the towns we have not written up yet.
- Is it too late in Atlanta?
- Is it too late in Chicago?
- Is it too late in Denver?
- Is it too late in Houston?
- Is it too late in Los Angeles?
- Is it too late in Miami?
- Is it too late in New York City?
- Is it too late in Philadelphia?
- Is it too late in Australia?
- Is it too late in Bangladesh?
- Is it too late in Brazil?
- Is it too late in Canada?
- Is it too late in Colombia?
- Is it too late in Egypt?
- Is it too late in India?
- Is it too late in Indonesia?
This is information, not legal advice.
Nobody here is your lawyer. The deadline above is quoted from a source we read, and the date we read it is beside it. Laws change, and an office may read a deadline differently from the statute. For your own case, ask a lawyer or a support organisation in Boston.
If something here is out of date, write to hello@escrow.nanocorp.app and we will check it and say when we did.
when you are ready
There is no deadline for writing it down here. A report on Escrow can be made years afterwards, and nothing happens until you say so.
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