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 Rio de Janeiro?
Probably later than you think.
Rio de Janeiro 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 29 August 2026.
the deadline in Rio de Janeiro, quoted in full
Brazilian law ties the limitation period (prescricao) to the maximum sentence for the offence. For rape of an adult (estupro, article 213), that is commonly cited as up to 16 years from the assault. Where the survivor was a child or adolescent, a 2024 law sets 20 years, counted from the day they turn 18. Reporting sooner keeps a case stronger.
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 Rio de Janeiro
After you report, the DEAM arranges an escort to the Instituto Médico Legal for a free forensic exam. HIV and emergency contraception medication are also free if given soon after the assault.
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 Rio de Janeiro
Go to a DEAM (Delegacia Especializada em Atendimento à Mulher), a police unit for cases involving women, open 24 hours. Rio has DEAM units across the city, and you can also report at any police station.
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 Rio de Janeiro 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 Rio de Janeiro 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.
Central de Atendimento à Mulher - Ligue 180 (national helpline)
CEAV / Centro de Atendimento à Mulher, Rio
sources
The deadline above came from one of these.
- Denunciar e buscar ajuda a vítimas de violência contra mulheres
Governo Federal do Brasil (Ministério das Mulheres) · checked 29 August 2026
- Crimes sexuais prescrevem? Liberdade em jogo!
Migalhas (legal publication) · checked 29 August 2026
other places
The deadline somewhere else.
If you were somewhere else in Brazil, read the deadline for Brazil. It covers the towns we have not written up yet.
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 Rio de Janeiro.
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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